


Bugaboo for Babybones

by TrasBen



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adoptive family, Alternate Universe - Horrortale (Undertale), Dad Sans, Famine - Freeform, Gen, Implied/Referenced Violence, Minor Character Death, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Empress Undyne Ending, Sans finds a baby, Starvation, Uncle Papyrus, You have to understand first and foremost that I'm a slut for adoptive family, and takes care of it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23133166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrasBen/pseuds/TrasBen
Summary: Set in Horrortale, Sans finds a little surprise on his doorstep.He can't turn away such a tiny babybones, but it'll be a lot of work to take care of them in this broken world.... He and Papyrus won't have to worry about that for long, though.=)
Relationships: Papyrus & Sans (Undertale), Sans & OC & Papyrus, papyrus & oc, sans & oc
Comments: 144
Kudos: 261





	1. baby on bour boorstep.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sans finds lil baby

Sans really couldn’t say what made him open the door in the middle of the delta damned night. He couldn’t tell you what force had tugged and _tugged_ on his SOUL, the panic that gripped him as he swung his door open, borderline growling as he glanced around.

Maybe he’d subconsciously heard something.

Maybe it was the paranoia that was deeply ingrained into his bones after years of living in the hell the monsters called home.

Either way, it led him to where he was now.

Looking down at a small, dingy basket. It contained one ratty blanket wrapped tightly around something tiny.

… That something was a baby.

A baby _skeleton._

The sight was so absurd that he nearly yelled back into the house for Papyrus to pinch him, just to make sure Sans wasn’t dreaming.

When the wind picked up and the tiny thing shuddered, Sans knew that it was real.

He reached for the top of the basket where there was a handle, and hauled it up to sniff at the little monster - to make sure there wasn’t some sort of scent mark that would indicate a big scary monster would be after the tiny skeleton.

Sans didn’t know why there _would_ be - you don’t leave your baby on someone's doorstep in this world without expecting to find a pile of dust when you get back. Or less than that. Some monsters had sunk low in their struggle to remain alive.

Maybe they thought that the _bone-bros_ out of everyone in this shitty town would be the most sympathetic. 

Sans would _like_ to say that he’s stronger than that - not as easily manipulated, but the truth was that he was curious about the tyke. He performed a CHECK on the little thing and found that not only did it have no name, it had 0.5 HP….

That was… _a tenth_ of what Sans had - and he had five, only four more than he’d been born with.

_(but LV had fixed that a while ago…)_

This baby was… practically a newborn…

So small.

Sans stepps back into his house quickly, glancing around his porch _just in case_ before shutting and locking the door.

He waits for a few moments, back flush against the door, listening for anything that might have seen him, might have seen _~~his~~ _ _the baby_. When he was sure there was no ambush coming, he shuffles over to the couch and lays the basket down on the coffee table.

The baby was sleeping, bones still rattling with the cold.

Sans himself was fairly immune to the constant chill of Snowdin, thanks to his strong magic, but smaller monsters have trouble regulating magic flow and production.

Meaning that the little thing was likely freezing its coccyx off.

Rather hesitantly, Sans grabs the baby out of its little bed - noting how it is just barely larger than his hand, almost like a doll. It actually _coos_ , sensing Sans’ warm magic, which causes an embarrassing purr to escape Sans, before he stops himself.

_*can’t get attached_

He reminds himself…

_*the underground ain’t no place for kids_

…

Sans knew what he should do.

It would be a mercy kill, really. It would be better to let the kid know only warmth and the comforting hold of a stranger, ignorant of its own condition than to let it grow up and sink into the same desperation and depression that the other inhabitants of the underground were plagued by.

Sans’ magic itches around his bones, ready to summon one, tiny attack.

_That’s all it would take_.

Less, in fact. Sans could probably just curl his hand around the tiny bundle a little harder. A little intent and it would be nothing more than some dust.

_Then the baby opened its eye sockets_.

It is still too young to form eye lights, likely even to _see at all_ , but it turns its little skull this way and that, trying to make sense of what was happening around it.

Its little hands curl and uncurl, its legs kicking weakly as it makes a pathetic sounding mewl.

And just like that, Sans’ SOUL was stolen.

He almost surprised himself with the amount of affection that welled up in the culmination of his being - he wasn’t sure he’d been able to summon that much _feeling_ for anything other than his brother, anymore.

And maybe ketchup, when he could find it.

But like some sort of forbidden magic, this tiny bundle of bones has done the impossible and had Sans _obsessed_.

Fuck food and clothing.

Sans can make do - he always has before, hasn’t he? And how was this any different than raising Papyrus on the streets? At least he had a proper house, this time around.

_*and some LV and the fear of most monsters in snowdin_

His free hand goes up to tug gently at his still functioning eye socket, his grin twitching.

_He was going to give this baby everything it wanted_.

He was going to let this kid live better than Empress Fishsticks.

_He was going to feed Empress Fish Sticks to the kid if that’s what it took_.

And even though the baby had no eye lights, was blind as a bat, Sans got the feeling that it was observing him.

He narrows his one, bloody eye-light at the tiny thing and grins as wide as he can.

“hey, kid…” He croons, bringing it up to his face, “how does verdana sound?”

… The baby coughs…

Sans thought he couldn’t get anymore obsessed.

He was wrong.

…

That night, he kept Verdana up in his room, under his thin sheets with him for warmth. He’d bathe and dress them tomorrow, when the meager light of the underground finally arrived.

There was no doubt in his mind that Papyrus would love the kid more than spaghetti itself, and he was fairly certain that Verdana would feel the same towards their new uncle.

_*heh heh_

_*guess ya could say i gotta… heh…_ gut _instinct!!!_

He could feel it in his bones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this first chapter will be a little short, but the rest should be around 2k from here on out :D! 
> 
> welcome to my newest WIP ~ yes im a slut for found/adoptive family, no i will not be stopping anytime soon. 
> 
> c'mon, sans taking care of a baby is just too cute. you know you agree. 
> 
> leave a comment if you'd like!


	2. bay bi bo bapyrus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> am i just replacing the first letter of every word in the title with the letter b? baybe.
> 
> our lovely little babybones meets uncle papyrus! exciting!

When Sans wakes, he has almost no memory of the previous night. The hole in his head had taken a good chunk of his life with it, leaving him with few details from his past and terrible short term memory.

Basically - Sans’ ability to recall something is spotty at best.

The first sign that something was off was the lump on his rib cage. Inconsistent as Sans’ memory was, even he could tell, instinctively that something was off.

Skeletons did not have skin, and therefore could not have bumps, after all.

The lump shifts, and Sans can feel tiny claws digging into his ribs. Although it was odd, the sensation was not at all painful.

Sans doesn’t even remember until he’s shucked off his jacket and shirt, and sees the tiny thing curled around one of his ribs, clinging to him vertically like some kind of primate. It was still ridiculously tiny - Sans got a feeling it isn’t supposed to be hanging on for dear life onto a single one of his ribs.

_ (if he’d stayed his original size, the baby would have been able to easily hold onto a rib and use another, lower one as a footrest. as it was, the thing clung to him like it was going to fall any second, bones still loudly rattling) _

“still here, huh?” He rumbles, voice still groggy from sleep. Before the injury, Sans knew he had a poor sleep schedule - Papyrus liked to remind him, too. But after his skull had been partially caved in, sleep came easily.

He didn’t dream anymore, either.

Small blessings.

The tiny thing’s  _ (what had he named it?..... oh, right….. verdana……) _ Verdana’s bones rattle again, so Sans pries them away from his rib, marveling once again at how tiny they are, and places them on his clavicle so they could latch on there and reset their head against his cervical vertebrae.

Like this, Sans wouldn’t even notice their presence unless they fussed.

Verdana seems to be a good, quiet baby, though. So Sans wouldn’t worry. The ability to keep them close to him at all times reduces the likelihood of them getting snatched - whatever idiot decided to try would have to get alarmingly close to Sans.

This way, they would also be protected from the wind by his jacket, as long as he kept his hood up.

Sans dresses again, careful not to disturb the baby as he pulls his shirt over his hand and shrugs on his jacket. They sigh as they are covered once again, drawing Sans’ attention to the fact that they aren’t clothed.

Silently, he looks, almost in awe, at how tiny and fragile their shaking bones look next to his - he hadn’t bothered to unwrap them from the blanket last night, not having known that they didn’t have any more protection from the cold.

“must’a been chilly, huh, danni?” He says softly to the baby, who only makes tiny coos in response.

He snorts at the baby-babble and grabs their old blanket from where it was strewn on the bed to lay over them for warmth. Difficult as it was for monster babies to regulate their own temperature, the more help Sans could get keeping them warm, the better.

Especially since there isn’t a lot of food to replenish magic.

Sans’ metaphorical stomach drops.

He hadn’t been thinking of food last night when he’d taken them in. (He had, actually, but he’d decided to ignore it in favor of emulating his brother’s optimism)

Verdana is too young to eat solid food right now. They will have to rely on magic from their parents until their SOUL can break down green magic into their system.

It will be even longer until they can stomach non-magical food. The only type of food that was easy enough to come by - tree bark, animals, whatever garbage was at the dump…

But Papyrus’ spaghetti is fairly high in magic content.

Sans knows he will have to eat more, in order to transfer magic to Verdana. He doesn’t like the idea of straining what little food supply they have, but it needs to be done. In later years, Sans is sure Verdana will have been a good investment - they can help with traps, defend the house…

But Sans secretly hopes they’d get all the SOULs before then. 

Even though it seems impossible. Six SOULs have made their way to Undyne, with humans falling once about every two months, their SOULs shattered by the time Sans found them.

It’s nice to think about a future where Verdana doesn’t have to do any of that - they could see the sun and make friends.

There was something so alluring about being able to give someone that innocence. To give someone the opportunity to  _ be _ innocent. He’d once hoped Papyrus would never have to struggle, but here he is.

And now he has a second chance.

No RESETs, just a tiny baby that is clinging to his clavicle.

As Sans was about to leave his room, the wall where he had his reminder-notes jumps out at him.

Heh. Guess that’s what it’s for, after all…

He reads through his daily list of reminders

_ *your name is sans _

_ *your brother is papyrus _

_ *you live in snowdin _

_ *you are starving _

_ *papyrus is starving _

_ *the resets have stopped. for now. _

_ *don’t talk to the lady behind the door. _

_ *don’t ask about undyne _

_ *don’t ask about alphys _

Just general things in case he forgot. Those were the pink sticky-notes.

The yellow ones were short-term tasks like

_ *recalibrate the net trap _

_ *check the ravine _

Quickly, he writes himself a new pink sticky that reads -

_ *you found a baby. their name is verdana. take care of them. _

He sticks it up with the rest, and leaves his room, glad that he has a back up for if his memory should fail him again, which it would. Verdana shifts, moving their tiny skull to face him. They make little snuffling noises as their hands increase and decrease in grip, like a cat kneading your lap.

Sans chuckles, tucking their little blanket around them further, finally leaving his room.

On his way out, he grabs the axe propped up next to his door with his free hand, dragging it behind him.

“hungry, danni?” He asks, not bothering to wait for a response. Verdana is still a baby, after all.

And they are  _ his _ kid.

Of  _ course _ they are hungry.

Again, since they are so young, Verdana won’t require more than a simple magic transfer - but Sans is a little too low on magic for that, at the moment. He hasn’t eaten more than some chunks of bark since last week - when Papyrus had gotten his latest ration from Un-dick.

A single box of pasta noodles.

Sans had let Papyrus eat most of it, unconcerned with his own hunger. He’d stopped feeling it, awhile ago. Now, he only eats when his magic reserves got too low or he finds himself staring at his neighbors with food on his mind.

If Sans is going to be keeping Verdana, though, he needs to be more diligent about his personal upkeep. He couldn’t transfer magic to them regularly enough for their HP to stabilize or for  _ their _ magic to start regulating their temperature if he was running on near-empty.

So he goes to their stock in the kitchen, trying to remain as sparse as possible with what he takes.

_ *there _

A single, half-empty bag of chisps.

Sans scarfs it down, feeling the pleasant sensation of magical food converting swiftly and efficiently into his own. There isn’t much magical food left in the underground, the farms having started to fail years prior.

Non-magical food, while life-sustaining, does less to replenish a monster’s magic and takes much longer.

The instant influx of magic boosts Sans’ senses a little and causes a rush of endorphin-like magic to buzz around him. That dead sense of hunger that was nearly always dormant ramps up again all at once, clawing at his SOUL with a vengeance.

_ More, more _ , his body tries to tell him, tries to convince him to eat until his reserves are full, until his wounds are healed.

He ignores it, though, instead readying his magic for a transfer to Verdana.

It is almost  _ painful _ to part with his newly regained magic, but he manages to do so out of sheer self-discipline. He concentrates on focusing magic in his hand, and rests that hand on Verdana’s small back, offering it up for them to absorb.

The change is almost immediate; Verdana’s bones gain a small, healthy glow, their not-yet colored magic buzzing around them, lighting them up. Their breathing comes deeper now and they make some snuffling noises.

“feel better?” Sans mutters, running one of his large, clawed hands lightly over their back. His magic hasn’t depleted as much as he thought it might have - a good sign. As their magic starts to take over for themselves, he’ll need to transfer less and less magic.

That came with the supplementation of magical food, though.

…

At least for now, Sans could probably spare another ‘meal’ for Verdana if they got hungry within the day.

It felt odd, the possessive feeling welling up inside his rib cage. He’d always wanted to take care of Papyrus, felt an obligation to give him everything he’d ever wanted and more - how could he not? He and Papyrus had grown up together, and despite the taller being only a few years younger, Sans had been the adult both of them needed.

It was different, though, getting to re-feel all of that years later. Because this time, Sans wasn’t a kid. He is an adult. He knows how precious the innocence of childhood is.

Call it what you want - nostalgia, his need to have control, or even just Sans wanting to feel good about himself - he is  _ going _ to give this kid what he’d never had.

A steady, heavy thumping on the rickety stairs alerts Sans to the fact that Papyrus has woken up, and was likely getting ready for his daily tasks.

“SANS!! YOUR DOOR WAS OPEN, SO I’M ASSUMING YOU’RE ALREADY AWAKE!! REMEMBER TO CALIBRATE YOUR NET TRAP, BROTHER!!”

“got it bro,” He calls back tiredly. Sans appreciates his brother accommodating his poor memory, but getting nagged really did grate on his nerves. Not that he could ever be annoyed with Papyrus.

“WOWIE!! SANS!! DID YOU KNOW YOU HAVE ACQUIRED A PARASITE??” Papyrus peeks into the kitchen to look with interest at the lump on Sans’ clavicle.

He knew that Papyrus’ vision had started going out with the hunger  _ (along with his bone density and dental health) _ , so Sans can’t really blame him. Verdana  _ does _ rather look kind of like some parasite, after all, latched on to his bones as they are.

“heh, yep bro. this is verdana.” Sans tells him, shifting so Papyrus can see the small skeleton better.

“WHILE I THINK IT’S RATHER ODD TO BE NAMING YOUR PARASITES, SANS, I’M GLAD YOU’RE ABLE TO FORM BONDS AGAIN AFTER THE TRAGIC LOSS OF YOUR PET RO-”

Papyrus goes silent as he gets a closer look at Verdana.

“THAT IS - NOT!! A PARASITE!!” He gasps, cupping his cheekbones. “THAT IS!!!! A BABY!!!! SANS!!!!”

Papyrus is by Sans’ side in an instant, hunching down to observe the small monster.

“It’s So Tiny!!” He coos.

“found ‘em last night.” Sans explains softly, not wanting to disturb the tyke. “someone left ‘em in a basket. middle of th’ fuckin’ night.”

“Language, Sans! We Are In The Presence Of Innocents!!”

Sans simply chuckles again before prying the baby off of him lightly to hold it out towards his brother - he has the utmost confidence that Papyrus will treat Verdana with nothing less than complete reverence.

Expectedly, Papyrus is eager to take Verdana into his own hands and cradle them. Their little brow bones furrow as they look up with blind sockets to try and determine what took them away from their personal heater.

In Papyrus’ hands, they look even smaller, more fragile. 

Their tiny hands grab in front of them, wanting something to hold, so Papyrus brings them up to his own clavicle and nearly squeals with excitement as they latch right on easily, due to the fact that his bones are far thinner than Sans’.

Papyrus looks up at Sans with stars in his eye sockets, bouncing from foot to foot as Verdana nuzzles into his neck. They are now making a contented purring noise, sounding so  _ tiny _ .

“They Like Me!! Can We Keep Them??”

“sure, paps.” Sans grins.

He knew they would get along.

Now it’s just a matter of making sure everyone else in Snowdin gets he memo that a certain bony baby is not to be messed with.

  
… Unless the perpetrator wants a  **_b a d t i m e_ ** __ that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eek! this got more attention than i thought it would. thanks for supporting this! :D
> 
> !!! [check out my tumblr here](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/)!!!!!
> 
> leave a comment if you'd like! it makes my day :)


	3. and i bould balk 500 biles, and i bould balk 500 bore....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a visit to the capital turns out to be a FRUITful endeavor

“This Is Fantastic News!” Papyrus continues to cajole, “I Can Finally List Another Dependent Under My Name!”

Sans turns a sharp eye light on his brother.  _ Dependent? What? _

“what do you mean, bro?”

“Have You Forgotten, Sans? Undyne Hands Out Rations To Guard Members Based On Familial Status. Since You Refused To Be Listed As A Dependent Under My Name, We’ve Only Been Receiving Rations For One Person. A Child Will Change This!”

Oh, right.

Sans... hadn’t wanted to admit weakness. The word  _ dependent _ rubbed him wrong. So he refused the title.

It  _ would _ help to have Verdana be listed as a dependent, they could probably get more magical food if they listed a newborn under their house… but… that would mean Undyne would have to be made aware of Verdana.

And Sans doesn’t want that. Even the thought is making his bones crawl. But if he doesn’t… the chances of Verdana surviving aren’t favorable.

“I Know You Have Your… Reservations… About Undyne, But Think! A Child! It’s Just The Hope The Underground Needs!” Papyrus would wring his hands right now if he wasn’t holding Verdana, his nervous tick. He really wants this, Sans can tell.

It’s hard for Sans to get himself out of his current mindset. The Underground? Everybody in this prison can fuck right off. Sans will take care of his family by himself. He doesn’t need to give them  _ hope _ . If he could have it his way, they would never lay an eye on Verdana in their lifetime.

“... Sans…” Papyrus beseeches, “Think Of Verdana. It Will Only Be A Small Visit. No Harm Will Come To Them, I Swear To You.” He’s still holding Verdana, who has settled down and is now resting peacefully. The movement of their little rib cage is so smooth, unlaboured.

Sans doesn’t want to. Papyrus will listen to Sans if he says no. He’ll be disappointed, his grin will fall momentarily before he picks it back up in a facade of optimism. But Papyrus will listen if Sans says not to take Verdana to Undyne.

“... okay. but i’m coming.” Sans reluctantly agrees.

The grin on Papyrus’ face is enough to power the entire Underground. His pure joy offsets how misaligned his teeth are. Sans’ own SOUL glows a bit in his rib cage in an instinctual reaction to seeing Papyrus smile, a  _ real _ smile, for the first time in nearly a year.

“You Won’t Regret It! Undyne Will Love Them!”

Sans foces a chuckle and nods along, pretending to be convinced.

He’s going with them, but not to see Undyne. He’s going to make sure nobody looks at his family the wrong way.

There’s nothing to eat for breakfast, and Papyrus insists that an early start to the castle will ensure that they arrive before Undyne gets into a bad mood, so they quickly wrap Verdana in some warm materials to help stave off the cold of Snowdin as they travel and to protect against the falling water of Waterfall.

Papyrus fashions a sling out of his scarf to keep Verdana close to him, placing an arm around Verdana even after they are wrapped up snuggly against him for further protection. The idea of Sans not holding Verdana is anxiety inducing, but he reasons that it is better for Papyrus to hold them.

Monsters seeing the child with a member of the royal guard is safer. Sans has enemies. Papyrus does not.

They progress slowly. Every move is made in an attempt to sneak past any potential enemies. Sans would like to say that monsters have risen above their basic needs during this famine, and many have, but there are still a dangerous few who have succumbed to instinct and hunt for whatever prey they can find.

They don’t encounter many monsters, though. While most monsters know that it’s safer to starve in the safety of their own homes, there are still those few who prowl the streets.

In their madness anyone is a target.

This means that their journey is mostly silent. Verdana remains a good baby and doesn’t make much noise. Papyrus compliments them in whispers several times.

“We! Have The Best Baby!”

“So Quiet, Verdana!”

“Undyne Will Love You So Much!”

Sans has to remind  _ Papyrus _ for once that they should stay quiet. The light reprimand doesn’t seem to phase Papyrus, who only smiles and nods his skull.

When the three approach Hotland, they have to take the long way around the lab. Sans longs for the days of past, when they would cut through the lab, but since Alphys’ death, Undyne has shut the building down. Nobody is allowed to enter.

Sans doesn’t remember what happened to his once-friend. He doesn’t remember her at all besides a few lingering emotions and the color yellow. Was she dead at all? Who knows. The lab is closed either way.

It’s a long trip for Sans. Despite his snack this morning, he doesn’t have nearly enough energy or stamina to continue on at Papyrus’ pace. If it was before the famine, Papyrus would have picked Sans up under his arm and carried his brother.

But it’s not. Sans has grown too large for Papyrus to carry.

Instead, they take frequent breaks for Sans to rest. During these times, Papyrus uncovers little Verdana and bounces them. He also lets Sans touch their tiny face, which does wonders for his morale.

He tries not to think about the fact that they may be delivering this tiny bundle of bones into the hands of a murderer.

Well. Sans would be a hypocrite to call Undyne a murder.

He has a combination of blood and dust on his hands.

They arrive at the castle before midday, which is good news. It means they will be home before nightfall if there are no problems, which means that they will be safe from night attacks by bandits and hungry monsters.

The castle is just as imposing as it was when Asgore still ruled. When he still lived. The blue stone it’s made of almost glows like the crystals on the ceiling. It’s darker here. Almost like night in Snowdin. 

But nobody dares to commit crimes where the ‘Empress’ may hear.

There are no guards. Fear of the Mad Queen herself keeps most in line. And if they don’t know to fear her, they learn soon. Her brutality is physically carved into both of the brothers; courtesy of the hole in Sans’ skull and Papyrus’ teeth.

Papyrus enters the building without hesitation and navigates the halls expertly. He makes trips down to Undyne on a weekly basis, so this is routine to him. Has been for the past seven years.

_ Has it really been that long? _

It feels like weeks, months, maybe, but maybe that’s where Sans’ shitty memory has placed it on his timeline. The hunger clawing at Sans’ midsection tells him the truth.

The throne room, unlike the rest of the castle, has changed significantly since Undyne’s take over. The flowers no longer grow. Instead, there are piles of dust littered around the room on barren dirt floors. She keeps them around, Sans thinks, to warn off other from making any stupid mistakes. The windows that once reflected in light from the barrier, mimicking the sun, are all broken.

There are no guards here, either.

There’s nothing but a throne in the middle of the room. A throne that Undyne sits upon.

Sans has to restrain a growl when he sees the fish stick lounging. The hole in his skull aches painfully as a reminder of what she did to him.

He doesn’t know how Papyrus can smile so widely at her.

Undyne’s curiosity is too strong for her to stay apathetic to the brother’s presence.

“Paps?” She rasps, “What’s up, punk? Your visit’s in a few days.”

“I’VE COME TO DECLARE A NEW DEPENDENT!” Papyrus announces. He doesn’t bother to keep his voice down anymore as he unwraps Verdana from their place on his chest.

“... Sans?” She questions, looking over at the other brother, not yet realizing what was happening.

“try again, un-dick.”

The fish scoffs and looks back to Papyrus, who is now showing off Verdana. The baby has just awoken, and is blinking their dark sockets, doing the move where they clench and unclench their fists.

Undyne’s singular eye goes wide in disbelief.

“... Paps…? Is that…?”

“YES! MY NEWEST FAMILY MEMBER! MEET MY WONDERFUL NIBLING, VERDANA! I WOULD LIKE TO REGISTER THEM UNDER MY NAME, PLEASE!”

Undyne stands slowly and walks over to the two. Sans tenses and steps slightly in front of Papyrus, who holds Verdana closer to himself imperceptibly.

“Where…? There haven't been kids in the Underground since MK…” Undyne winces. Sans doesn’t know who MK is. Maybe he should, maybe he’s forgetting, but he takes delight in the emotional pain it causes Undyne.

“NOW NOW, UNDYNE. THAT HARDLY SEEMS POLITE TO ASK. THEY’RE MY BROTHER’S CHILD!”

The Empress’ eye skitters to Sans before she turns it back to Verdana. Her face is conflicted. Sans can see her next words coming from a mile away and he will  _ n o t  _ allow Undyne to let Verdana starve. Not after he’s  _ swallowed _ his pride to bring them here.

“Rations are so low, Paps…” She attempts to reason.

Papyrus stands uncharacteristically firm, though. He won’t take no for an answer.

_ *he’s so cool _

“UNDYNE! I’M SURE YOU KNOW, BUT NEWBORN MONSTERS CAN ONLY ABSORB RAW MAGIC. IF WE DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO FOOD WITH HIGHER MAGIC CONTENT, THEN THEIR SOUL WILL ROT… DON’T DO THIS TO AN INFANT, UNDYNE…”

Sans moves in front of Papyrus further, capturing Undyne’s attention.

“c’mon, bro, she’s not _cruel._ she wouldn’t _kill_ _a monster kid._ ”

He’s hoping to appeal to whatever sense of guilt is left in her hollow SOUL. Undyne’s brief lapse in apathy had exposed her weakness.

It works. 

“There… there are some trees still left in the courtyard.” Undyne whispers. “They’re in season right now. I can promise you an orange a day, they have good magical content. That should be enough for the season.”

Sans wants to press for more. The set of Papyrus’ shoulders suggest that he wants to, too. But they don’t. An orange a day is enough for a monster to kill their neighbor in this world, even if it’s only for a season.

Papyrus hands Verdana - sling and all - over to Sans, who takes them without complaint, quickly tying the scarf around his shoulders to finally hold  _ his _ baby closer to himself. Papyrus lays a hand on Undyne’s shoulder. She flinches. Won’t make eye contact with what used to be her ‘best friend’.

“THANK YOU, UNDYNE.”

Undyne nods. “Take care of them, Paps. I swear. That kid is the last HOPE of Monsterkind.”

“OF COURSE! AND THEY’LL GROW UP STRONG, THANKS TO YOU!”

The Empress is silent, but she leads them to the courtyard they spoke of and hands them enough oranges to last until their next rations in a week and a half.

“Don’t speak of this place, I have enough smart asses who try to raid the palace on a good day.”

Papyrus and Sans swear to silence. They don’t particularly want their last saving grace to dry up so soon, either.

…

The walk back home is far more dangerous now that they’re carrying precious goods. Sans shoves them in the sling with Verdana. They move even more cautiously, yet rushed, than before. To make it home would be a blessing.

And it is.

As soon as they lock the door behind him, Sans and Papyrus make quick work of hiding the oranges under a floorboard behind their lumpy couch. They’re protective enough of regular food, but  _ fresh _ food is only more dangerous to have.

“I DIDN’T KNOW SHE HAD THOSE TREES.” Papyrus says mournfully. He looks contemplative as he stares at the bare fireplace.

He still thinks Undyne is a good person, deep down. Despite all the people she's killed, the food she’s stolen, and the things she’s done to Sans’ family. Sans is under no such illusion. It wouldn’t surprise him if she had an entire farm she was hiding from the Underground.

“it doesn’t matter. we have food for verdana.” Sans tells his brother gruffly. He hates to be short with Papyrus, but it’s necessary at times like these. Regret and sadness will get you nowhere in the middle of a famine.

“... YOU’RE RIGHT. LITTLE VERDANA WILL BE SAFE, NYEH…” Sans unties Verdana from the sling and hands Papyrus back his scarf. The tall skeleton winds it around his neck. Sans holds Verdana. “THEY SURE HAVE BEEN SLEEPING A LOT. IS THAT NORMAL?”

Sans looks down at the snoozing skeleton in his arms.

“think so, bro. they’re not even old enough t’ see yet. we just gotta be patient.”

“YES, WELL… PATIENCE HAS ALWAYS COME EASY TO… THE… GREAT… PAPYRUS.”

The older brother gives his younger sibling a wry grin. “it always has, bro. but hey, i sleep a  _ skele _ -ton it could just be that the apple, or should i say the  _ orange _ , don’t fall far from the tree?” Sans can’t wink anymore. He’s lost the capabilities of his right eye socket, but Papyrus still screeches all the same at Sans’ attempt.

“REALLY, SANS??? NYEHHH! YOU BETTER NOT TEACH POOR VERDANA YOUR TERRIBLE HUMOR!”

For right now, all is good in Sans’ world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> just so y'all know, this fic isn't going to have much gore/fighting in it. it's horrortale, so you can assume that it's happening, but im going to focus on the 'slice of life' aspect of raising verdana more than the 'hurr durr murder and blood' aspect.
> 
> that being said, there will be some violence in coming chapters ;)
> 
> leave a comment if you'd like! :D


	4. beekaboo, i bee bou

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things are going well.... almost too well....

Weeks pass. Verdana’s HOPE goes up to three points. It’s not ideal, but it’s not absolutely the worst for a newborn. It’s fantastic for their situation. Sans has been eating the oranges, giving Verdana twice daily magic transfers. 

Although they haven’t grown, they’ve gotten heavier. Just the other day, small lights flickered in their sockets for the barest of moments. The look on their face was completely worth the weeks of wait - to see their expression when they _saw_ for the first time.

They also have started to babble a lot more. More often than not, it’s breathless coos at night when they cuddle Sans, but when Papyrus holds them, they mimic his loudness with small shrieks of their own.

Breakfast has become a family affair. More often than not, there’s no breakfast in itself besides the single orange, but Verdana is more energetic after the transfusions, and Papyrus adores watching the infant lift their tiny skull and kick their little legs.

Sans doesn’t want to torture his brother with the sight or smell of the fragrant fruits, though. So he insists that Papyrus takes the vitamin-rich skin of the oranges.

Although he looked like he wanted to disagree, it didn’t take much convincing for Papyrus to give in.

It’s not a lot, but it’s more than the two have had for years.

Verdana still doesn’t have any clothes, so the one of the brothers is always at home to watch over the infant. It’s not practical to have them outside in Snowdin often. They’re still so young, their magic needs to develop without straining itself trying to regulate the temperature of their little body.

Sans is reluctant to give them baths, knowing that the warm water will only be a temporary relief for Verdana, that eventually they will have to get out and be faced with a possibly deadly chill on their wet bones.

At the same time, Papyrus argues that they need to move their small limbs or else what little magic they have will go stagnant and get infected. It’s a constant struggle for balance for poor little Verdana, and the reduced amount of time the brothers can spend hunting is stressful in its own way.

“DO YOU THINK THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH VERDANA?” Papyrus asks one day during ‘breakfast’. He’s nibbling on the peel Sans had given him, attempting to savor the small amount of food.

“we’ve been over this, bro. babies don’t move that much.” Sans sighs. Papyrus constantly laments how ‘lazy’ Sans’ baby is. He’s tired of explaining that although it’s healthy to help the baby move every once in a while, their magic is too weak for them to move much by themselves.

“YES BUT… THEY’RE SO QUIET. THEY MUST BE SO HUNGRY AND COLD, BUT THEY NEVER CRY.”

Sans peaks down at where Verdana is looking at the ceiling with blank sockets. Admittedly, that is… a little worrying. He knows not all their needs are being met, yet they hardly complain. Sans wants to attribute it to good behavior, but they’re far too young to know.

Have they learned already that the struggle is useless?  
  


It’s a grim thought.

“worrying won’t do us any good.” Sans mumbles, “they’ll be fine.”

“OF… OF COURSE THEY WILL BE! THEY ARE FAMILY OF ME, AFTER ALL.” There’s not much heart in what Papyrus says, but he carries on. It’s like a metaphor for their entire situation. Even Papyrus’ positivity is worn thin.

_Delta_ , life has become such a struggle just to shuffle through anymore.

Verdana is truly their last hope.

“I TALKED WITH BONNIE YESTERDAY.” The taller skeleton tells Sans. He sounds tired. “SHE SAID SHE WOULD SPARE US SOME OF HER CHILDREN’S OLD CLOTHES IN EXCHANGE FOR SOME MANUAL LABOR.”

“i’ll do it.” Sans offers. He knows that if he doesn’t set his foot down, his younger brother will try to do it all by himself. It would be nearly crippling for the thin skeleton. Papyrus already works in the guard and maintains over three fourths of all the puzzles in Snowdin. He doesn’t need to work anymore.

“I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO SAY SANS, BUT YOUR ENERGY IS FAR MORE VALUABLE. YOU NEED TO KEEP UP MAGIC TRANSFERS TO VERDANA.”

“you’re workin’ yourself to the _bone_ , bro.” Sans points out. “you’ll just _drop dead_ if you don’t take a break. i’ve been eating more lately, i’m not going to pass out from chopping wood.”

“I WISH YOU WOULDN’T MAKE JOKES AT TIMES LIKE THESE…” Papyrus sighs. “OKAY. I’LL WATCH VERDANA WHILE YOU’RE GONE. BONNIE PROMISED THREE OUTFITS AND TWO HATS FOR VERDANA, DON’T LET HER TELL YOU LESS.”

“got it bro.” Sans stands, his knees popping with a harsh crack like sound. He untangles Verdana’s baby hands from where they’ve latched onto his clavicle and gently hands the infant to Papyrus. The taller skeleton looks surprised.

“YOU’RE LEAVING NOW?” His voice wobbles a little, but neither comment on it. It’s sad.

Sans looks away to avoid letting his feelings show. He has to do this.

“sooner the better, right, bro? danni’s gonna need those clothes pretty soon. can’t keep ‘em in a blanket and kitchen towels forever.” As if to prove Sans’ point, Verdana shifts in papyrus’ hold and coos.

“I-IT’S GOOD THAT YOU’RE FINALLY TAKING INITIATIVE, BROTHER…”

Papyrus waits until Sans leaves to finish his thought. The door clicks shut and Papyrus hears the sliding of the lock.

“I HATE THAT IT’S LIKE THIS, THOUGH.” He lets out yet another heavy sigh before holding Verdana up to his face. Their little eye sockets are open again, but there’s no light. It must be scary to be blind.

Papyrus is slowly losing his vision. The world isn’t going dark, but blurring together. He’s glad he at least gets to see Verdana’s face before he can no longer distinguish the features as the magic depletion continues.

“YOU ARE ONE TOUGH BABY, DANNI. YOU CAN’T MOVE, TALK, SEE… BUT YOU DON’T COMPLAIN AT ALL.” Verdana makes an unintelligible noise in response. It almost makes Papyrus laugh.

“WHOEVER GAVE YOU UP WAS WRONG. I’M SO GLAD TO HAVE YOU HERE, BUT… I HAVE TO WONDER WHERE YOU CAME FROM.” Papyrus stands and carries Verdana to the living room. When Sans is gone, Papyrus has been secretly training them to move their limbs. His brother wouldn’t approve of ‘straining’ the small skeleton, but Papyrus knows that Verdana will have to develop fast in this world.

He seats himself with his legs crossed and sets Verdana on their back in front of him. They wiggle a little.

“ALRIGHT! FOR TODAY’S TRAINING, YOU MUST ROLL OVER! ARE YOU PREPARED, DANNI?”

“Nnnn” Verdana gurgles.

“NO COMPLAINTS, BABY!” Papyrus gently moves their legs up and down as they wiggle around some more. Eventually, they do start to get the memo and start twisting. They can’t quite seem to get enough momentum to completely turn over. They're making little noises of frustration punctuated by small squeals.

Papyrus doesn’t hold it over them, they did their best!

“GOOD JOB!” He praises, picking the infant back up after a few minutes. Even Papyrus knows that there’s a limit to how much energy Verdana should expend. Per usual, Verdana quickly calms down, latching onto Papyrus tightly and falling asleep after cooing nonsensically for a bit.

Papyrus spends the day rocking Verdana on his shoulder around the house while he worries about his traps. The downside of caring for a baby was that he couldn’t check them as often as he had before.

He wishes he could say that his Royal Guard duties demanded more action of him, too, but it wouldn’t be the truth. He’s the eyes and ears for Undyne (despite not having either). He reports the happenings in Snowdin weekly, and in return, he gets enough food to barely sustain his family.

It’s not like there’s any talk of rebellion out here, anyways. Most monsters are too tired and hungry to think beyond their next meal.

Papyrus doesn’t blame them. He wishes he only had to worry about food; Undyne is getting worse these days. She’s going mute, which isn’t good for the ruler of a kingdom in turmoil. Whether it’s from screaming her throat out at disobedient guards and her troubles, or just magic depletion, he doesn’t know.

Although he knows she’s not the _best_ ruler, it’s much better to have a Queen who’s on your side than one who’s not. She has to stay in power if they’ll stay alive for much longer.

Sans is slowly imploding, too. He pretends like he isn’t, but he is. It’s like the oranges have made no difference, which wouldn’t be surprising considering he’s giving that energy to Verdana. If nothing else, though, it’s something to soothe their stomachs.

“YOU’RE GOING TO BE BIGGER ONE DAY.” Papyrus tells Verdana, but he’s talking to himself more than anything. “AND YOU’RE GOING TO SEE SUNLIGHT EVERYDAY. YOU’RE GOING TO EAT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN HOLD AND YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO STOP SMILING. I PROMISE.”

….

It’s late into the evening when Sans returns. Just late enough that Papyrus has started to worry.

He rushes to meet Sans at the door when he hears the sound of keys in the lock. Sans enters with slumped shoulders and dirty clothes.

“sorry…” He huffs, “it took so long. she wanted me to strip the bark before i cut the wood.”

“YOU DID GOOD, BROTHER. DO YOU…” Papyrus hates to ask as soon as his brother is finally home, but he’s been anticipating this all day. He swallows. “DO YOU HAVE THE CLOTHES?”

Sans shuffles to the couch before collapsing. Papyrus follows him anxiously and stands over his brother’s prone form.

“yeah.” He coughs. “yeah, i gott’em… just gimme a second…”

Papyrus waits with bated breath. He’s holding Verdana a little too tightly, but he can’t _help_ it. He wants to dress Verdana in their first outfit! It’s the most he can recall looking _forward_ to something.

It’s a few seconds before Sans turns himself over so that he’s laying on his back and reaches into his heavy coat. After a bit of shuffling, he brings out the promised goods. They look to be a little big for Verdana, but Papyrus is sure that under his tutelage, Verdana will grow into them just fine.

He makes quick work of taking them and dressing Verdana on the floor, shoving limbs into the clothing and pressing together buttons and clasps until _finally_ Verdana is clothed.

Papyrus could cry. If he had the excess magic, that is.

_They’re so cute._ Tiny, still, but they look _healthy._ Their bones are white, not misshapen. They look so soft and perfect. They haven’t ruined the only innocent thing left in this cruel place. 

And that had to have been one of his biggest fears, secretly. That they were going to take something as innocent as a newborn and _ruin_ it. Taint the baby with starvation, hatred, and desperation. But despite everything, Verdana is just fine.

“can i see danni?” Sans asks after a moment. Papyrus realizes that he’s been selfishly hogging this sight all to himself. “just for a moment.”

“OF COURSE.” He takes Verdana up gently and places them in Sans’ arms. His older brother looks down at Verdana with a tight grin.

“we’re really doin’ this, huh?” He whispers after a moment.

  
“WE ARE.”

Sans looks down at the baby for a little while longer before a tight gasp is drawn from his mouth. Papyrus is over in an instant.

_IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG - ?_

“bro, bro, come here.” Sans chokes out, looking up at Papyrus with his single eye light large and fuzzy. 

Papyrus rushes over to look at Verdana - and - and - _oh._

“say hi to uncle paps, danni.” Sans whispers.

In Verdana’s eye sockets are two brilliant dots of light. They’re taking in the world around them with a new fascination, and for the first time, Verdana _smiles_. It’s too much for Papyrus’ poor SOUL.

“OH!! MY!! HELLO, LITTLE DANNI! AM I EVERYTHING YOU IMAGINED?” Papyrus asks without thinking.

He’s glad that he did. Sans lets out the first genuine laugh he’s had in well over a year.

Verdana watches curiously, their hands patting the space in front of them, which happens to be Sans’ face. They smoosh his cheeks and drag their sharp little distal phalanges along Sans’ face. He only laughs again though.

“ _stars_ , paps, we’re okay.” Sans says.

“I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, SANS, BUT I’M NOT OKAY.” Papyrus says seriously. For a moment, Sans sputters. “I’M FEELING… VERY GREAT! NYEH!” And this time, it was Papyrus’ turn to laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god they're just so cute i can't with them T-T
> 
> ........ but good things can't last for very long in this universe, huh.........?
> 
> leave a comment if you'd like!


	5. biver of bhe bead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an unexpected opportunity arises. the reward is high, but the stakes are higher.

It’s another week or so before something happens. It was inevitable, but nevertheless it feels too soon. Granted Sans could probably never hear again from the outside world and still consider it to be too soon.

A human body is discovered in the river. It’s leg is caught in between two large rocks, torn nearly to shreds by the time it’s identified by a small mouse monster. She knocks on Sans and Papyrus’ door early in the morning and the pained, desperate look in her eyes is telling. She’s twitchy. Could be due to the hunger, but it’s most likely that she’s nervous.

Humans are kind of a big deal.

The mouse (Quark, he thinks her name is. He could be wrong, probably is) promises the brothers a cut, quite literally, of the human if they help her retrieve it quietly.

It’s a time game. They all know it. At any moment one of the dogs could find the lifeless body and jump in to snatch it. Their thick fur and powerful paws are more suited to swimming than mice or skeletons.

_ It’s a time game. _

Sans is the first to open the door. Per usual, he grabs his axe before unlocking it, ready for a threat. When he doesn’t shut it for a minute, Papyrus wanders down the stairs cautiously with Verdana wrapped up in his arms. They wiggle a bit in his arms and crane their little neck to see past Sans to the little mouse.

“Please.” Quark whispers. Her dark eyes shine with the barest hint of tears.

The monotonous, maddening ticking of a clock plays in Sans’ skull. Almost in slow motion, as if the universe is giving him an incentive, a reminder that this isn’t something he can take back to his room with him and sleep on for awhile.

Not many things are, these days. It forces him to be present, forces him to take responsibility.

“I’LL GO.” Papyrus offers. His voice doesn’t waver.

Sans doesn’t look back, not wanting to draw attention to the little bundle of bones his brother has. There’s a reason they don’t answer the door often.

Too much vulnerability. If Sans had it his way they would barricade every possible entrance of the house and never interact with any of the Underground’s denizens again.

Of course that would almost certainly mean starvation, but, hey, a skeleton could dream.

“no.” Sans tells his younger brother. “...... you watch danni.”

He’s still looking at Quark, who cowers at the sight of the two skeleton brothers, much larger and deadlier than her, having a conversation. She’s progressively getting more twitchy as time wears on and Sans can’t tell if it’s fear for the brothers or that the human will be found.

“YOU WENT OUT LAST TIME! I CAN HELP AS WELL…”

Sans makes a tsking noise and lolls his head to the side. “use your  _ head, _ bro…” He begins to explain. Even a brain-dead freak like himself knows what will happen if Papyrus is caught trying to make an under-the- _ table _ deal with a mouse. About a human body, especially. “they’ll rip you…. apart.”

The taller brother is in the Royal Guard. There’s technically even worse that could happen then getting ripped apart by the dogs if they decided to report him to higher authority for hoarding food.

Undyne might bail him out, but that was unlikely considering she had to maintain a strong face for the public. Especially about food.

“YOU AND YOUR JOKES, BROTHER.” Papyrus sighs. “I WANT TO AT LEAST BE A LOOK OUT. IS THAT ACCEPTABLE?” He bypasses Sans entirely to look over at the timid mouse. She squeaks and nearly folds in on herself at the extra attention.

“no.” Sans repeats. It’s lower, more threatening. He doesn’t like having to do this with Papyrus, but it’s necessary. He has to keep Verdana and Papyrus safe.

“APOLOGIES BROTHER, BUT I DIDN’T ASK YOU. I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT I WAS OLD ENOUGH TO DECIDE FOR MYSELF… NOW, MS. MOUSE, MY I JOIN YOU TWO?”

“Y-Yes! Of course, Mr. Papyrus, I would never t-t-t-tell on you!”

Sans growls low in the back of the throat he doesn’t have. “better fuckin’ not.”

Quark shrinks in a satisfactory manner. It’s better for her to be afraid, compliant.

“THERE.” The lanky skeleton goes about setting Verdana back up in their makeshift sling and puts his hands on his hips. “NOW THAT VERDANA HAS ADEQUATE CLOTHING, THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO HANDLE SNOWDIN FOR A LITTLE WHILE.”

Sans doesn’t like the idea of bringing Verdana out  _ at all _ . Especially not to a shady exchange like this. But Papyrus has already proved that he’s not going to be a pushover about this and the slow  _ tick tock tick tock _ in Sans’ head is only getting louder and more maddening, so he pushes down his dislike and follows the mouse as she leads them to where exactly in the river the human is caught.

…

Papyrus follows Quark and Sans about ten feet behind, enough to have plausible deniability about knowing the actions of the two should there be an altercation.

It’s nerve-wracking to know that Verdana is with him, that the two of Sans’ most important people are so vulnerable.

But of course Paps can defend himself. He’s strong, like he said.

_ So why won’t the image of a headless Papyrus get out of his head? His body disintegrating into dust, fading away, his arms still outstretched to receive a hug that will never come… _

Sans scowls and gives himself a few knocks in the good side of his skull. Can’t be thinking about that right now. Have to focus on food, on danger.

It’s cold. Snowing. Scent is harder to track in this weather. Not to mention that seeing even six feet ahead is a challenge. And the snow keeps getting heavier, heavier than when they first started walking. It'll provide better cover, but a blizzard might be dangerous depending on the circumstances.

It's as much a detriment for Sans as it would be any attackers, so he tries to focus on his sense of hearing to catch out any potential stalkers. Thankfully he can’t detect anything.  _ Yet. _

The river comes into sight not too long after walking. The snow around it is undisturbed besides what must have been Quark’s earlier footsteps. “Th-The human…” They stutter, pointing out with a small claw, “It’s over there…” Sans follows the direction and sees that there is indeed a human-looking hand sticking out from between the rocks.

He can see a shadow underneath the rough currents of the water. 

_ An entire human body _ . It’s more than anyone in the Underground can hope for these days, the promise of a full stomach and maybe even left overs.

“...gotcha.” He acknowledges.

Sans lumbers over to a safe distance from the lip of the river and reaches for his blue magic. His recent meal, despite giving most of that energy back to Verdana, makes it surprisingly easier than he thought it would be. He’s tried before to muster up even enough to move some of their furniture around and found himself unable to do so.

But now, he feels a familiar and comforting ease as he draws the body up and yanks it away from the rocks. The magic is thin, weak, but it gets the job done and gives an extra boost to Sans’ confidence.

He draws it closer to them quickly and sets it gently down on the ground.

…

It’s a decent haul. Missing most of its clothes, hair as well as an arm and a foot, no signs of rot. He notes with distaste that it’s probably waterlogged but he’s in no position to be picky.

“I-I can have the top half and, and, uh… you can take the l-legs…”

The mouse is smart to go for the top. Lots of organs to store away for later, most nutritious. Like he heart. Or the liver. Or the intestines - Sans should stop thinking about that. But the legs are often muscular and fatty as well. Still good.

Sans grunts to show he understands and kneels down in front of the body. He brings up his axe and prepares himself to make one, clean blow.

That is until Papyrus starts speaking very, very loudly.

“WOWIE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE,  _ LESSER DOG? _ ” He asks cheerfully. Sans and the mouse freeze. He’s warning them. Lesser Dog is on the prowl, which means more members of the pack might be behind him. Could be anywhere.

To cut the body now would mean to release the fresh scent of blood. As unpleasant as a waterlogged human was, it at least kept the dogs from tracking its scent.

“ACTUALLY I DO NOT THINK YOU SHOULD VISIT THE RIVER FOR REASONS PERTAINING TO… SAFETY! YES! THE RIVER IS NOT SAFE RIGHT NOW, SORRY! YOU CAN LEAVE NOW!”

Quark is frozen in place, shaking.

Sans feels a low noise in the back of his throat wanting to rip free and warn anybody who might try to steal  _ h i s  _ food from him. 

“I SAID DON’T GO THERE!...... UM, OKAY, WELL, I SEE THAT YOU ARE IGNORING ME AND GOING TO THE RIVER ANYWAYS, LESSER DOG!” Papyrus narrates what’s happening to give the two a better visual of the situation they’re in.

Sans slings the body over his shoulder with his axe in hand then pulls Quark up by the arm with his other.

“What are you doing?!?” She gasps in terror. She squirms and wriggles to try and pull free, but she’s unable to. Sans rolls his eye light.

“lesser dog comin’... gotta go.” He could leave her here, but he isn’t about to snuff the monster in the face after she offered him food. She’s the reason they have this human in the first place and Sans isn’t the kind of scum that would go back on that.

_ Not like Fish Bitch or that kid. _

The mouse only squeaks as Sans makes a break for it towards a building that will be safe to drop her off at before Sans confronts the mutts, Grillby’s.

It’s halfway across the town, but Sans’ urgency and newfound height help him cross the distance in a negligible amount of time. Thirty or so feet away, he throws the body back on the ground and sets the mouse down so he can slam his axe down on the body and separate it.

Red blood seeps into the snow, the scent of iron filling the forest immediately. He’s splattered with it, and so is the mouse. It leaks slowly from the body. For a moment, all Sans does is watch the life-sustaining substance leave the dead human.

It won’t be long until the dogs catch up.

Sans picks up the top half and shoves it into Quark’s arms. The small monster trembles as she stands in place, staring at Sans. The lazy flow is marking her already. If she doesn’t leave, she’ll make a nice snack for the dogs along with the torso of that human.

“.... safe at grillby’s.” Sans tells her. None of the dogs would dare take a fight into that place. Out of respect for the flame element who resides there or fear, he doesn’t know, but it’s a good enough sanctuary for a runt like the mouse.

She takes a glance down at the bounty in her arms. “B-But…”

Sans shrugs, “.... he’ll want… a cut. but he’s safe.”

There’s only a split second of hesitation before Quark nods and takes off running for the once-restaurant.

Sans knows he won’t make it home without a fight. Papyrus probably won’t, either. He tries to shove down the fear of not knowing where Papyrus is, whether or not he’s safe, but it lingers.

Like the scent of the blood which has surely soaked into the air enough for the dogs to have noticed.

… Crunching of snow alerts Sans of the presence of another monster. He readies an attack, his magic sputtering to life around him like a machine that hasn’t been turned on in years. Despite his earlier display, Sans’ magic is reaching its daily limit without a long rest.

The snow is even heavier now, though. It threatens to turn into a blizzard with the way the wind whips through the trees.

“Sans!”... It’s Papyrus, whisper-yelling out to him. He steps out from behind a tree. 

The magic falls away instantly, replaced with pure relief.

“I-I Ran As Fast As I Could, But The Dogs Followed Me. They’ll Be Here Any Second…” Papyrus explains. “We Need To Go Home.”

Sans grabs up the legs, still connected at the waist, and hands them to a confused Papyrus.

“you go.” He says, “i’ll distract ‘em.”

“You’re Weak Though…” The taller brother objects. His feet shift around impatiently, though, knowing he doesn't have time to argue.

Sans shakes his head. “you can’t get caught. ’ll tell ‘em i lost it. go.”

Papyrus stays only long enough to let out a sigh. He’s gone with the legs in a blur of red as he sprints back towards the house.

He’s out of sight just in time for Sans to take on the first dog alone.

“Sans.” Dogamy greets. He’s panting and salivating. It doesn’t take him long to notice the red staining the ground next to where Sans stands.

“... dogamy.”

“Where is it?” As Dogamy growls, his wife trots up beside him, a wild look in her eyes.

“(Where?)” She pants.

Sans gives a cheeky shrug and kicks at the red snow. “lost it.”

“Yeah right…” Dogamy replies angrily.

“(You? Lose a kill?)” Dogaressa backs up. Her brows are furrowed angrily. Sans knows it’s only a matter of time before hunger takes over their rational thought and they bring out the claws and teeth, so he takes a step back.

“there’s nothin’ left…. it got snatched.”

There’s a snarl from behind Sans. He nearly startles.

Sounds like Lesser Dog.

_ shit. _

He’s surrounded.

At least Papyrus should at least be home by now. Sans has bought enough time for his younger brother to take their precious cargo and the legs back.

Now all Sans has to do is make it home, too.

_ …  _

_ i’m comin’, paps… danni… _

  
  


…

..

. 

  
  


At the end, it’s by far not the worst altercation Sans has had with the dogs, but it leaves him with several large holes in his clothing and a deep bite mark on his tibia and humerus. He manages to beat them back with a large bone and loose them for long enough in the snow, which had continued to fall heavier and heavier.

The sudden blizzard allowed him to stumble his way back home safely and securely. As much as Sans would like to attribute his escape to his own skills, he knows that the dogs had gotten tired of trying to land a hit on the dodgy skeleton. They'd managed to get a few in, but only at the cost of more than a few Hp. They all but retreated after a bit of back and forth, not wanting to put much effort into a fight where there's no meat as a reward. 

Upon his arrival back home, Sans could smell that Papyrus was making quick work of curing the meat. Cooking up a little and saving the rest to be preserved as jerky.

Verdana lays sleeping on Papyrus’ chest, still swaddled securely.

Sans’ knees nearly buckle at the relief of it all.

Today was close, but he’s safe. They’re all safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PHEW
> 
> i was going to write the fight scene but i felt like that wold have just been an entirely different scene. wasn't really going to be exciting either, just a lot of the dogs trying to get at sans and him dodging. not a lot of banter beyond the start :T
> 
> but the boys have food! :D
> 
> don't worry, verdana doesn't.... DIRECTLY eat human.....
> 
> hehe, leave a comment if you enjoyed or if you want to chat!! :D


	6. behind bhe boor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sans decides it's time to visit an old friend

Sans thinks it’s time to visit the lady behind the door.

He doesn’t go by as often as he used to - it’s dangerous to stand around in one spot for any amount of time outside. Especially at the edges of the town, where the more feral monsters are prone to hanging around.

Sometimes, though, if he’s checking the area for humans, he’ll go by and knock. He can’t accurately describe what he feels when there’s a hesitant wrapping of knuckles in response, a barely whispered ‘who’s there?’.

The two of them don’t share jokes like they used to. Sans has lost his memory, his capability for true comedy and the lady’s lost her ability to laugh, really.

Sans listens to her breathing sometimes. It’s comforting, a familiar presence. Safe, even. Neither of them can get each other from their positions on either side of the door; Sans can’t get into the ruins and the lady behind the door has revealed that she’s terrified of the idea of the rest of the Underground.

When they do talk, it’s mostly the lady. She talks about the humans that fall, how they never stay. How she only wants to take care of them, protect them.

Sans doesn’t mention that all the humans who make it past the door have burn marks on their bodies. He thinks back to the body a little monster whose face he can’t quite recall led them to a body in the river. How the body’s skin was littered with pink patches, hair missing, scorched off.

Who is he to judge anymore?

It’s not like he hasn’t done horrible things. He doesn’t have any particular affinity for the fleshy sacks of blood himself either.

As long as they make it out of the ruins, as long as they make it onto his table, he’s fine.

Sans doesn’t know if the lady’s ever eaten human.

Probably not. He thinks it would shatter the illusion she’s trying to maintain. The one where all humans are children and she’s not sending them off to deaths more brutal than Asgore ever delivered when he was still around. The one where humans aren’t food.

When she’s in a particularly bad state, she asks Sans how the humans are. He doesn’t have the  _ hah _ ,  _ heart _ to tell her that they’re like livestock around here. There’s no guilt about it - he only did what he had to do to survive, but there’s pity.

Sealed up behind that door, driven to insanity. Sans doesn’t know why she hasn’t given in and crushed her own SOUL to dust by now. It would certainly be less painful than continuing to watch humans fall and letting them leave to be ripped apart.

Still, she’s probably the closest thing to a friend Sans has anymore besides his bro or Grillby.

And… he wants to introduce her to Verdana. She’s always loved children, he knows. And even if that love has turned to some dark obsession, Sans at least wants to share a small light in the hell of the Underground with her.

Verdana is his little light, his little hope. And if there’s anyone who needs hope - who deserves it, it’s the lady.

…

Papyrus is more agreeing than Sans would have initially thought. Of course, the elder brother didn’t reveal  _ why _ he was wanting to take Verdana out, but Papyrus was nonetheless enthused.

“OF COURSE BROTHER! IT’S A WONDERFUL IDEA!”

Sans is holding Verdana up to his collarbone - they’re curled up on his clavicle, tiny arms wound around his cervical vertebrae. Their tiny phalanges sometimes reach up to brush over his mandible or poke at the spaces between his vertebrae. 

Much to Papyrus’ relief, they’d started to move around more often, to look around more often lately. It got to the point where they were batting anything with reach, or their tiny fists curling around and trying to grab it.

Papyrus had gasped in delight when they first curled their little hand around his index phalanx, gripping so tightly that  _ “IT HURT, SANS! OH MY GOODNESS, WHAT A STRONG BABY!” _

“really?” Sans is skeptical, mostly because he’d never let Papyrus go outside with Verdana if not for a very important and specific reason. 

Papyrus is at the kitchen counter, cleaning it despite it being a week since there had been any food to be prepared. He’s adamant about things like that, though. It’s busy work, mostly, Sans knows. 

He has a lot of free time ever since he stopped training with Undyne. It’s too dangerous to go outside, so Papyrus focused his attention on their home. Things had never been cleaner.

“YES! IT WOULD DO GOOD FOR VERDANA TO GET FRESH AIR.” Papyrus drops the rag he’s been using and turns to face Sans fully. “I COULD EVEN COME ALONG AND RECALIBRATE MY TRAPS!”

Sans nods along amiably.

He doesn’t mind Papyrus coming along. He’s confident in his ability to slip by unnoticed for a few minutes while Papyrus recalibrates the traps he’d set.

“sounds good bro, wanna go?”

“WAIT!!!” Sans watches with mild curiosity as Papyrus sprints up their stairs and practically flings his door open. The sound is enough to rouse little Verdana, who coos and slaps Sans in the face gently.

It draws a snort out of the big monster.

A sound that seems to utterly  _ delight _ Verdana. Their little sockets, usually so sleepy and docile, widen. 

Verdana’s eye lights are bright as they lift their head up and try to see where the silly noise came from. Their little hands - both of them - come up to give Sans a few more slaps. He snorts again despite himself, which draws an honest-to-stars  _ giggle _ from Verdana.

When Sans realizes that Papyrus has returned, he’s embarrassed to find that his brother has been watching the two of them with a wide grin.

“DON’T STOP ON ACCOUNT OF ME!” He teases light-heartedly. “BUT I’VE GOT VERDANA’S HAT.” He holds up one of the hats that Bonny had given them - in their haste last week, they’d forgotten to adorn Verdana with one before going out.

Sans pries Verdana off his clavicle and holds them out a little so Papyrus can slip the little hat over their tiny skull.

… It’s adorable.

“I WISH MY PHONE’S CAMERA STILL WORKED.” Papyrus laments, “THIS IS A MOMENT THAT MUST TRULY BE REMEMBERED.”

Sans has to agree.

They only coo over the baby for a few more minutes, though. If the two of them are to go out and Papyrus to recalibrate his puzzles, the earlier the better.

Papyrus lets Sans use his scarf as a sling for Verdana. The warm baby snuggles back up to their adoptive father easily and calmly. Their sockets are starting to droop already. All the excitement of snorts and hats have tired them out - either that or they’re just as lazy as Sans is.

Papyrus leads them out of the house.

He’s on official duty, and there’s no food on them, so it’s a mildly safe trip. Going through town is the easy part, but beyond is slightly more dangerous.

It’s early, though. Nobody’s going to waste prime hunting time on a skeleton.

There’s a few monsters up and about town, mostly standing around with a blank look in their eyes or attempting to eat some object or another. A small furry monster shovels snow in to their mouth absently while a snowdrake nibbles on some bark from a nearby tree.

Papyrus stops not too far out of town to start setting a trap back up that had either been falsely set up or which the prey had escaped from. Papyrus’ optimistic grin falls for only a split second before he’s doing the trap back up.

“OH WELL,” He hums, “WHO KNOWS? THE NEXT TRAP MUST HAVE CAUGHT SOMETHING!”

“i’m sure it did, bro.” Sans reassures him, “i’m gonna take danni on a quick walk.”

Papyrus gives a jerky nod and looks away to focus completely on his task, “DON’T GO TOO FAR.”

“wouldn’t dream of it, bro.”

Sans starts on the path to the door, pointing out small things like trees that look like they have faces to the baby. Verdana is enraptured by everything around them - it’s not often that they’re taken outside, or at least not since they’ve been able to properly see the world around them.

It’s not too long until they reach the door. It’s just as Sans remembers, although his memory isn’t very reliable these days. Tall and purple. Imposing. Lonely.

Almost cautiously, Sans reaches out and raps his knuckles against it once, then twice. To himself, he murmurs “knock knock…”

For a few seconds, silence reigns.

… He thinks of turning back. Helping Papyrus with the traps ...

… But a voice hesitantly responds, “Who’s there?”

Soft, motherly. The lady’s voice has always had a certain comforting quality. Even if she sounds more afraid than ever, less stable, she retains that little bit of maternal instinct from once upon a time.

“it’s, uh, me.”

“Oh, that’s…” She clears her throat, “that’s good. That you’re still… here. How is your brother?”

Even if they knew next to nothing about each other, the lady had long ago found that Sans was reluctant to talk about himself, but would go on and on about Papyrus. These days he’s less talkative, but it’s a good opening.

Talking about Papyrus is easy.

“he’s, uh, he’s good. been workin’ real hard lately… we uh… we both have.” Sans admits. He shifts Verdana a little, who has perked up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. 

“That’s good.” The lady repeats, not having much else to say about that, “It is hard these days to find motivation. I find myself… well… “ She trails. “It’s not that important.” There’s a note of finality in that statement, one that means Sans won’t get anything more out of her about herself.

He can only make guesses at the state of the ruins comparative to the rest of the Underground, but she’s obviously not well.

“well, i, uh, i wantcha to meet someone…” Sans strokes the top of Verdana’s skull lightly, “i found ‘em on my doorstep a few months ago… i think…” Sans’ bad memory makes it hard to remember exactly when Verdana had first come into his life.

His short term memory is so bad that sometimes he forgets they exist at all if they aren’t in his immediate sight, but his long term has so many chunks missing that it’s hard to remember a time when they weren’t curled up on either him or his brother.

“Oh?”

“their name’s verdana, danni for short. they’re… a baby. a lil skeleton, just like me and paps, heh.” Sans holds Verdana up although he knows the lady can’t see him. He gives Verdana a gentle nudge and they coo in response.

“... Oh!” The lady sounds significantly more alert, now. Sans can hear scrabbling on the other side of the door, the sound of claws sinking into the heavy stone. “A child! There… there hasn’t been a child born in the Underground for quite some time!”

“heh, yeah.” Sans replies sheepishly, “they looked to be pretty new, barely had any hp.”

“It was very kind of you to take them in!” The lady’s voice is truthful and kind, “In this world, it is difficult to support children, especially those so young. You are a good monster, Sans Skeleton!”

_ *i doubt that _

_ *but whatever _

“... I wish I could see them.” She sighs. “But I have duties.. I must tend to the flowers…” She sounds so broken up over it. Sans knows that there’s probably nothing she would love more than to see and hold a real baby, but she’s confined herself to the ruins. He feels a pang of guilt and pity shoot through his SOUL very, very briefly. Should he have brought Verdana? Was he rubbing it in her face by telling her about Verdana?

“they’re in good hands. me an’ paps are tryin’ our best… i….” He pauses. Should he continue? Would it be cruel to get her hopes up? In the end, he decides that the reason he’d come here in the first place was to give her hope. “i hope you get to meet them one day.”

There’s the softest gasp from behind the door. “... I hope so too…. May I… may I hear them?”

“sure thing,” Sans murmurs. He shifts to hold Verdana in one arm and runs a single phalanx over the length of their spine lightly, tickling the small skeleton. They let out a breathy giggle and try to squirm away.

Sans can hear the way the lady’s breathing shifts, can tell that she’s started crying, but he doesn’t say anything for a long while. But eventually he'll need to go back to Papyrus.

... 

“... i should… uh… i should probably get back to my bro.”

“Of course.” She sniffles, “I wish you both the best of luck raising little Danni.”

“... thanks.”

Sans returns to Papyrus quietly and quickly. He’s finished with all his traps, and proudly displays a small rabbit to Sans as their bounty. Snowdin is so over hunted that he commends Papyrus for the catch, which is honestly quite impressive. It hasn’t been stolen or gnawed on at all - it’ll make for a good broth.

They return home together, another almost-happy day having passed them by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think this has to be one of my favorite chapters?? just... so soft.
> 
> this isn't a soriel fic but i do like the friendship between tori and sans! rest assured, if that's not your thing, there's no romance in this fic. only family feels!
> 
> and like.... toriel would make a great grandma for danni, don't you think? :)
> 
> anyways! leave a comment if you'd like or want to chat!! :D
> 
> thanks for reading!!
> 
> stay safe!!!!!!


	7. bot beeded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sans is feeling insecure about his place in the family :(
> 
> lil bit of a trigger warning in this chapter for thoughts of self-worthlessness and minor minor MINOR suicidal undertones with that.

Papyrus is hiding something.

Sans knows just as Sans has always known when his little brother isn’t being completely truthful. His memory from before his head injury isn’t the best, but he can blearily recall Papyrus accidentally breaking a vase and practically shaking apart while attempting to pass off the blame to an annoying dog.

His tells now are the same as his tells from back then. Sweating, hesitance to make eye contact and the nervous wringing of hands.

And boy, had Papyrus been displaying a lot of those tells lately.

Sans normally wouldn’t care - or at least, he thinks he wouldn’t - if it weren’t for their living circumstances. The Underground was too dangerous already to be having miscommunication, especially intentional miscommunication.

At first, Sans believed Papyrus would come to him eventually. Maybe he’d let some prey go or had broken something and felt bad.

… But.

Papyrus didn’t. For a week straight, Sans’ younger brother avoided him as well as possible, and when they were in a room together, Papyrus refused to look Sans in the eye lights and wrung his hands to the point where Sans was afraid he’d accidentally pop off a few phalanges with how rough his younger brother was being.

When Papyrus wasn’t wringing his hands, it was because he was holding Verdana. Because whatever secret he was keeping, it most certainly had to do with the small skeleton.

The taller skeleton had all but taken over caring for Verdana completely over the past week. He even went so far as to request if Verdana could sleep in his room for a little while, since Sans “ALREADY GOT SO MUCH TIME WITH THEM. IT’S NOT FAIR, REALLY, I’M THEIR UNCLE TOO!”

The only time Sans is ever ‘allowed’ to hold Verdana was when he’s giving them their daily magic transfers, after which Papyrus sweeps  Sans’ the baby into his gangly arms and up away into his room.

Sans knows he’s probably overreacting. 

But it feels like he’s losing both Papyrus  _ and _ Verdana at once, since Papyrus is avoiding Sans  _ and _ taking Verdana with him.

He found himself more and more often sitting alone in the living room, fingers stuck up in his eye socket, forgetting over and over again what he was supposed to be doing, what time it was, just letting the maddening static in his head and hunger in his SOUL slowly consume everything he knows until the pain becomes to great, and he comes out of the daze with a heavy gasp and a bleeding eye.

…

He would look up to Papyrus’ shut door, then go out to recalibrate his traps or just hunt manually. 

It seems that Papyrus has taken notice of Sans’ newfound increased activity, though, because this morning, Sans finds a note on the kitchen counter thanking him for his hard work. At the bottom of the note is a rough doodle of a smiling Papyrus and a little Verdana with stars in their eye sockets.

The note comforts Sans marginally. He folds it up tightly and stuffs it in to his pocket before he heads out that morning to see if he can find any game up and about.

His motions feel routine, familiar, as he resets his traps. His sharp sense of hearing and smell comfort him - Sans feels capable here. He knows exactly what to do, is confident in his ability to take down any prey or fight off any approaching monsters. 

But he’s also lonely.

Sans hadn’t realized how much he missed being a care-taker until Papyrus had taken over the position for him. To have Verdana rely on him had given him a sense of purpose, something to look forward to, a push to get out of bed.

It… wouldn’t be a lie to say that sometimes Sans used to wonder if Papyrus would be better off without him. One less mouth that has to eat. Even without Sans, Papyrus could manage the traps by himself, and he wouldn’t even have to feel guilty about the small amount of rations he brought home every two weeks.

And now… Papyrus can take care of Verdana on his own.

It makes Sans feel  _ useless. _

The word echoes inside his damaged skull like an avalanche would echo through the Underground: loud and terrifying and  _ bad bad bad bad -  _

Sans doesn’t even realize that he’s stopped in his tracks - hand nearly fully buried inside his broken eye socket, phalanges scratching at the inside, trying to claw out those thoughts, trying to put him back in the present - he doesn’t realize until the sharp scent of rotten magic fills his nasal cavity and he finds that he’s dug too far, agitated the old wound to open up and spill sickly magic down his arm. It drips into the snow, red as human blood.

With only a small grunt, Sans removes his hand from inside his skull and shakes it, the magic flicking off in droplets into the surrounding snow.

The scent of magical rot is like acidic poison, so he doesn’t have to worry about anything coming after him. He wipes away the remaining magic that drips from his broken socket like tears and tries to remember what he’d been doing before he’d spaced out.

Papyrus…. Verdana…..

Rations…. 

Hunting, right… Sans is hunting…

Maybe if he takes home something big, he’ll get that addictive spark of warmth in his SOUL that lets him know he did something  _ good. _ It’s the feeling he gets when Verdana giggles at him or when Papyrus’ misaligned teeth pull into a genuine grin.

So Sans trudges along the snowy path, on to the next trap.

He feels heavy, more dead than usual. His rib cages aches.

…

When Sans finally stumbles back home, he’s got a fat-ish bird in his clutches, it’s neck broken. The feathers are a pretty blue that makes Sans consider saving them in a little jar. He’s not usually one for sentimentality, but he thinks that Papyrus would like having something pretty to look at every once in a while, and he knows that Verdana will probably love them.

The little skeleton hasn’t seen a lot of pretty things in their short life.

Despite Sans’ catch, though, he’s a little annoyed. His stupid eye socket hadn’t stopped leaking rotten magic, and the smell is starting to bother him. It burns to breath in the scent and the pain from his injury is doing more to distract him than ground him.

Sans grits his teeth together when he opens the door, expecting to find the downstairs empty, Papyrus in his room with Veranda.

… But that’s not what he finds.

“SURPRISE BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaims, waving around his gloved hands to show off their living room. It’s as… ‘decorated’ as possible. Papyrus had somehow made a big sign that had  _ CONGRATULATIONS _ spelled out with orange paint and had made paper decorations to hang from the ceiling. “.... BROTHER?”

Sans is frozen in place in shock.

_ *what…? _

“CLOSE THE DOOR AT LEAST, SANS! YOU’LL LET THE COLD IN!”

Sans manages to kick the door shut behind him. He holds the bird he caught up with a grimace.

“what’s…. all this?”

Papyrus’ confidence falters for a few seconds before he masks it. But Sans can see the way he’s started to sweat.

“UM… A PARTY?? FOR YOU???”

“...” Sans doesn’t understand what’s happening. To be honest, though, Sans can’t tell if it’s because he’s still disassociating or because this is another one of his younger brother’s antics that are truly incomprehensible.

“IT’S JUST THAT I WANTED TO SURPRISE YOU’VE BEEN WORKING SO HARD AND - AND - SANS?! SANS!”

Papyrus rushes over in seconds, much to Sans’ great confusion.

Everything is happening too fast for him, he can’t keep up. He doesn’t even register that Papyrus is using his scarf to wipe away the still leaking magic from his socket until he sees the dark red smears on the worn cloth.

“... huh.”

“YOU HURT YOURSELF AGAIN…” Papyrus says sadly. “WHAT HAPPENED?”

Sans stays silent for a few moments to collect his  _ extremely _ scattered thoughts. Luckily, Papyrus understands and doesn’t say or do anything else until Sans is ready.

“... hunting…” He starts, “i got a bird… i, uh, spaced out…”

His brother nods, a hint of disappointment in his stature. Sans feels a lurch of something bad and ugly in his rib cage, directed at himself.  _ He made Papyrus feel that way, everything was fine until  _ he _ came home. _

“IT’S OKAY, BROTHER.” Papyrus comforts. He pulls Sans in by the shoulders and gives him a long hug. “YOU’RE SAFE HERE… AND… WELL. I Was Hoping It Would Be A Happy Day…”

Papyrus leans back to gesture to the done-up living room. Sans belatedly notices Verdana napping on the couch, swaddled up in one of their thread-bare blankets. “I PLANNED A SURPRISE FOR YOU… BUT… THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS A MASTER OF FLEXIBILITY. LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY. TODAY WILL BE A ‘COMFORT’ DAY INSTEAD!”

A small, reluctant grin pulls at Sans’ mouth. 

He’s tired - emotionally and physically - but there’s nothing that a good ol’ Papyrus-Hug can’t fix. “sure, bro.”

Gently, Papyrus takes the bird from Sans’ hands and pats him on the shoulder. “SIT WITH VERDANA FOR AWHILE WHILE I PREPARE THE BIRD.”

Sans nods a little dumbly, shoulders slumped in relaxation, finally.

Everything’s starting to catch up. Sans feels safer, better. 

A big part of that might be that for the first time in a week he’s spending time with his family. He’ll be able to hold Verdana and then Papyrus will come out and they can eat together and be a family. Right.

“... i wanted to keep the feathers.” Sans mentions to his brother. “for you. and verdana.”

As if Papyrus was seeing them for the first time, he looks down at the bird’s feathers. His face lights up.

“WOWIE… THEY ARE RATHER PRETTY…” He looks up to Sans with wobbly eye lights and hugs him tightly once again. It brings a more steady smile to Sans’ face. He pats his younger brother’s back softly. “THANK YOU, SANS!”

“no prob, bro. think i can sit down now?”

“OF COURSE! I’LL JUST BE A FEW MINUTES!” Papyrus releases Sans to go into the kitchen and start plucking the bird’s feathers and separating it into edible parts and parts that they would find use for later.

Sans meanders over to the couch. Verdana is still sleeping soundly, their little rib cage just barely rising and falling underneath the blanket. They don’t snore, but their little breathes are sweet and melodical.

He scoops them up into his arms and cradles them close to his chest. Verdana has grown quite a bit in the past three or so months they’ve been in Sans and Papyrus’ custody, but they’re still so tiny compared to thim. Sans doesn’t remember if Papyrus was ever this small, and he wonders if they’ll stay tiny forever.

Not  _ this _ tiny, but… small.

Sans likes that thought. Papyrus had grown up, but Sans could still take care of Verdana for as long as they would let him.

When he settles into the couch, Verdana’s little eye sockets crack open to look up at him.

Their little face breaks out into a  _ huge _ grin and Sans feels silly for thinking that Verdana wouldn’t miss him or doesn’t need him.

Papyrus joins the two of them on the couch after a few moments, mentioning that he’s put the feathers in a small box and that the bird is cooking. He wants to save the feathers for a craft later, or something else that will showcase their pretty color.

… It’s nice, just to sit down and talk again, but Sans is still a little confused.

He wants to know….

“so what’s the sign for?”

Papyrus looks up at the thing like he’d never seen it, but remembrance quickly washes over him.

“WELL ALL WEEK I’VE BEEN PREPARING A SURPRISE FOR YOU… BUT IT FEELS A LITTLE SILLY, NOW.” He admits bashfully.

“aww, you know i love anything you do paps.” Sans grins reassuringly as he bounces Verdana in his arms. They second his words with cheerful gurgles and grabby hands that pull on the collar of his shirt.

“...” Papyrus thinks for a moment, but decides to share with Sans. “AS YOU KNOW, VERDANA HAS BEEN GROWING VERY STRONG AND SMART LATELY! AND… WELL…”

The tall skeleton looks down at Verdana and speaks again, but this time, with the funny little voice he uses just for Verdana, “‘DA-DA VERDANA, CAN YOU SAY IT?”

Sans’ nasal ridge scrunches up.

_ *da-da, what -  _

“Deh deh deh dehdehdeh!” Verdana babbles happily. They make grabby motions at Papyrus, who shakes his head.

“NO, DANNI, DA-DA, LOOK, SANS IS YOUR DA-DA!” Verdana glances up curiously at Sans and repeats the babble a little softer.

_ And it finally clicks in Sans’ head. _

“Deh dehdeh… dah..?”

“WELL, ALMOST.” Papyrus sighs. “THEY WERE SAYING IT EARLIER, BUT - SANS?”

Sans stares down at the little wonder in his arms as they continue to spout little babbles that have a vague resemblance to ‘dada’. 

He…

“that’s me, huh, kid?” And the liquid coming down from his eye sockets at the point isn’t rotten magic, it’s  _ tears _ , because Sans had been worrying all this time for nothing.

Sans has to hand Verdana off for a few moments to Papyrus so he can dry his sockets on his sleeves again.

“WAS THIS… A BAD IDEA??” Papyrus asks worriedly, “DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG?? DO YOU NOT WANT TO BE THEIR FATHER, I JUST ASSUMED - “

“it’s just….” Sans honest to stars  _ sniffles _ , “i thought you… didn’t want me around.”

Papyrus sounds horrified when he replies, “WHAT IN THE UNDERGROUND WOULD GIVE YOU THAT IDEA?”

“i was just… just bein’ stupid. you were with verdana all day an’ i… felt like i didn’t belong.” Sans admits. It’s tough to confront and state his fears aloud - like he thinks Papyrus will realize that what Sans is saying is true and that he really  _ is _ better off without his lazy, broken older brother.

“WE’RE A FAMILY, BROTHER!” Papyrus tells him. “AND THAT MEANS THAT YOU WILL  _ ALWAYS _ BELONG!”

And then that just starts a whole new round of tears shared between the brothers. Verdana’s babbles quiet as they watch their two caretakers.

The ‘comfort’ day turns out to be a big success. They split the bird up, which helps quell the aching hunger in their SOULs for a little and watch mettaton dvds on their old TV. The thing only turns on half the time and is more prone to fizzing out than displaying pictures, but some unknown luck finds the little family and they’re able to watch at least one movie together.

Verdana, as it turns out,  _ loves _ movies.

And… Sans loves his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh... love that hurt/comfort feel
> 
> also! verdana is about 3 1/2 months old at this point (they were like 2 weeks old when sans found 'em) ... babies usually start to babble at 4-6 months, but let's just say monster babies develop a lil faster 'cause of magic ;)
> 
> also also! we got to 100 kudos on this fic!! that's kinda crazy because i thought it wouldn't get much attention, but,,, here we are!! from this point on, expect some crazy things to happen.
> 
> after all... verdana hasn't seen their first real-live human before yet, have they? ;)
> 
> leave a comment if you'd like or wanna chat!


	8. bay baahhhh bor bhe bsunderplane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sans tries to get verdana to eat while papyrus meets........ someone new?

Over the next two months, Verdana only improves. It’s been a great mood-boost for the house, but there’s the rising tension of the end of the season. Undyne’s last ‘gift’ of oranges had come and pass. Now they had to conserve whatever was left. Pretty soon, there will be no more oranges. Pretty soon, Verdana will need magical food.

Verdana’s HOPE has tripled - they’re sitting at a pretty 9 Hp, almost double Sans. Since they’ve gained sight, they’re much more active. They are extremely curious, often trying to put their hand in either Papyrus or Sans’ eye socket to see what lies beyond the abyss.

Verdana still doesn’t cry, though. Instead, they giggle. They giggle _so often_.

When they wake before Sans, they pat his face and laugh until he wakes up. It’s a great improvement from the morbid silence and sticky notes he’d used to reassure himself that there were no more RESETs.

They’re still a little small for their age, but Sans assumes it’s natural instead of a lack of varied nutrients. They look surprisingly healthy for a baby born and brought up in a famine. They behave so well, too.

By now, they’re trying to crawl as well. Papyrus sees it as a marker of a great athlete. Sans sees it as a marker of trouble. The skeleton brothers don’t have much belongings to their name, having given away or sold a lot of them, but they have enough that Sans will need to start baby proofing the house soon.

Sans must be getting too into his own thoughts though, as Verdana has already sat themselves up (another new trick), and is clapping their hands together. Sans pretends not to hear them, but it’s hard with the way his grin can’t stop growing.

“Dedededededeh…” The baby babbles, still weakly clapping.

“heheh, can’t a skeleton get five more minutes, danni?” Sans chuckles.

“Dedeh… Dada.” Verdana responds seriously. Sans can’t help but crack the widest grin.

“aww… ‘kay, boss, let’s see about gettin’ you breakfast, huh?” The word has become normalized over the past months. After years of not having enough food for a decent meal (although an orange is by no means a meal on it’s own), breakfast has become a reprieve. Sans is going to see if he can get Verdana to eat one slice of the orange by themselves. 

They’re too young for the tough nutritious peel, but if Sans can start them on solid food, it’ll be easier to have them switch to regular rations once there are no more oranges.

The orange fruits will be missed, but such is the cycle of the Underground. Good things can never stay for long.

As Sans plods down the stairs, he finds the house strangely empty. Papyrus is… not here. Strange. Uncommon. Usually they try to partake in breakfast together, as a family, but something must have pulled the guardsman away.

On the handle of the front door is one of Verdana’s hats. A sign that Papyrus is okay.

The tension bleeds from Sans’ shoulders as he continues down to the kitchen where a single unpeeled orange sits on the table. The stocky skeleton amuses himself by thinking of how nervous Papyrus would have been to eat without Sans present.

As Sans picks apart the fruit, he wonders what Papyrus is doing…

* * *

Papyrus really couldn’t say what pulled him from his bed so early in the morning. Once upon a time, Papyrus hadn't needed to sleep more than a few hours a day. His magic was robust, his SOUL in excellent shape.

That has changed since the famine. He sleeps as much as any other monster, now. If only to recover the HOPE that slowly chips away due to the hunger in his stomach. But he’d woken early, with a restless feeling in his SOUL.

It told him there was something amiss.

He couldn't rest in his state, and he didn’t want to wake up Verdana or his brother, so the tall skeleton decided to check and recalibrate his traps. On the rare occasion that he’d caught anything with meat on it’s bones, he would bring home his catch victoriously. The family would celebrate with a small ‘feast’.

It’s better to eat what you have than hoard it, after all. Someone might catch wind and attempt to get a share of their own.

His traps were all empty. The creatures were getting smarter in avoiding them.

As he’s resetting a net trap, he hears the sound of weak shuffling behind him. He turns, and is shocked by what he sees.

“M-Monster!” A weak voice trembles, “Tell me… Tell me how to get out of here!”

Before him is a human, and a very sharp knife pointed at his rib cage.

* * *

“open up ~ “ Sans tries to persuade Verdana by waving the slice of orange in front of their little face, but although their eye lights follow the morsal, they refuse to open their teeth. “c’mon, danni, not even for the tsunderplane?”

The baby is seated on the table in front of where Sans is sitting in his chair. They’re stable enough for Sans to not have to hold them, but he's still cautious in making sure they don’t wiggle too much and fall.

Sans makes whooshing noises as he approaches the babybone’s mouth with the orange slice yet again. Right before he reachest their shut teeth, he speaks gruffly in a pretend voice, “fine, ‘s’not like i wanted you to eat me anyway!”

Verdana stares at Sans blankly for a few moments before bursting into laughter. They can’t understand Sans’ jokes, but the weird voice that just came out of their caretaker is enough to pass as comedy for someone not even half a year old. Verdana’s little hands come forward to pat at their lap as they laugh.

Sans laughs too as he nudges the tip of the orange into their parted mouth.

To Sans’ shock and delight, a tiny lime green tongue peaks out from their teeth to push the orange away. It seems it spawned as a natural reaction to having something put in their mouth. Verdana scrunches up their tiny face.

“you’re gettin’ big, danni.” Sans tells the other before attempting to make the baby eat the orange slice once again. “now open up, kid.”

* * *

“NOW NOW… HUMAN. THERE’S NO NEED FOR VIOLENCE.” It’s a boldfaced lie, but Papyrus needs to buy time to get out of this human’s range. “LET US TALK. YOU WANT TO LEAVE?”

The human wavers in their stance, but they keep the knife up. Their dark hair is tousled, their skin purpled and yellowed from bruises. Most striking is their yellow eyes which seem to penetrate Papyrus’ armor into his SOUL.

A Justice SOUL. It would be just Papyrus’ luck to encounter a more volatile human.

“I-I… I just w-wanna leave, please!” They beg.

In Papyrus’ very core, he wishes he could. He wishes he could reassure this human, tell them that no harm will come to them.

But he knows the truth. They’re in a highly risky situation.

Any monster could wander by and try to take a cheap shot at the human. For food. Sustenance. Even as Papyrus stands in front of the human, hunger claws at him. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s feasted on their flesh.

Lean. Tastes a lot like pork, if you didn’t think about it too much.

But this SOUL… would be the last one they needed. The freedom of all monsters is much more important than a full stomach.

  
Finally, he could unburden Undyne. He could free his family.

A younger him would have boasted about the prestige, but he’s beyond that. Just a few months ago, before he had a baby to worry about, he might have had the human complete a series of brutal puzzles before thinking of taking their SOUL.

“I… I CAN SHOW YOU THE WAY OUT.” Another lie. “COME WITH ME, AND DROP YOUR WEAPON.”

For a second, it looks like the human believes Papyrus. Like they’re about to drop their weapon.

But they leap forward, and Papyrus has to bounce backwards to avoid the business end of the blade in their hand.Their face is twisted into a look of fury. He’s misspoken.

“No! I… I won’t fall for that again! Monster! I just want… I just want a fair fight! Fight me!”

It seems they’ve fallen back on their SOUL instincts. Papyrus has no choice but to fight them… it will be dangerous. Humans are deadly when they get confident. But they’re also stupid when they get too confident.

What will be trickier than avoiding their attacks will be incapacitating the human without killing them. Papyrus will not risk the SOUL spintering before he reaches the palace, so he has to take the human to Undyne alive.

He prepares himself for a fight.

* * *

“danni, i’m gonna be real with you, this isn’t very cool.” Sans sighs after stars knows how many attempts to get the stubborn skeleton to _eat. The. Orange._ “at this point, i’m starting to think you _want_ to starve.”

Verdana only gurgles some more.

“y’know, i knew you were gonna say that.”

Sans pops a slice into his mouth and chews exaggeratedly. “yymmy!” He muffles through the bite to Verdana. They only seem to think it’s funny again, clapping their hands as they giggle. “see?”

They see, but they do _not_ comprehend.

Sans eats a few more slices and puts Verdana over his shoulder for a magic transfer. He’ll save the rest for later and see if Verdana will be more willing to eat then. For now, he needs to wrap up this whole breakfast shebang.

… Papyrus still isn’t back. It’s making his bones itch a little. There are times where his brother will be gone until Sans can’t stay awake any longer and he’ll have to wait until morning to see him, but those days don’t come without warning.

Had Papyrus warned Sans? Did Sans forget?

The heavy skeleton eases Verdana off of his shoulder and into his arms as he lumbers up the stairs. If Papyrus had told him, then it would be on a sticky note. Sans must have missed it this morning… or maybe he’s forgotten already…?

Sans doesn’t even realize he’s started to tug at his eye socket until Verdana makes a whining noise. It’s a noise of distress. Sans is snapped back into the present day out of sheer _panic_ , because Verdana _never whines._

He looks down and sees Verdana’s eye lights trained on Sans’ arm. Red fluid is trickling down between his radius and ulna. His fingers are coated in the stuff. He dug too far again. The pain is sharp now that he realizes what he’s done. It’s just what he needed to keep his head out of the fog.

“shhhh…” He calms Verdana. “it’s okay, ‘m okay, baby…”

It doesn’t take long for Verdana to settle back down, the baby pouting up at Sans, but silent. Sans sighs. He can’t remember what he was doing before this… what was he thinking about?

… Where is Papyrus?

* * *

Papyrus huffs loudly. He’s out of breath.

HIs body… is failing him. It’s not the first time magic depletion has proven to him how far he’s fallen, but it’s the first time he’s in explicit danger. The human wants to _fight_ . The human is surprisingly _good_ at fighting.

Or maybe it’s the extra determination they have thanks to being a human that helps them swing that knife around. And the fact that Papyrus need to be careful to leave them alive.

Either way it’s more than Papyrus has. All he can do is dodge and summon a weak bone construct every once in a while, hoping to the stars that he doesn’t collapse from the strain.

_THUD_

Papyrus looks down to see that the knife has lodged itself into the plating of his armor. Right where his SOUL was.

He looks from the knife to the human.

The human looks back.

* * *

There’s a heavy knocking at the door.

Sans looks curiously over at the thing. Nobody hardly knocks anymore. Most of the time, monsters who are cognizant enough _to_ knock prefer to stay in the safety of their own homes. And Papyrus has a key, so what…?

Sans shuffles over and looks through the peephole.

He breathes out a sigh of relief - he can see Papyrus’ scarf through the small window, and he makes quick work of opening the door for his brother.

Standing in front of him, however, is… Papyrus. Behind him is…. A human?

Sans’ eye light goes dark as he takes in the scene.

_human human human humanhumanhumanhumanhumanhumanhuman_

_… He’s so hungry_

* * *

_The knife has lodged itself into Papyrus’ armor. The thick chest plate prevents it from slicing through to his ribs though._

_The human looks up at the tall skeleton in shock. He’s still standing tall, uninjured. They’re weaponless, now. Fear shines in their eyes as they stumble backwards._

_Papyrus beams. “FINISHED, HUMAN?”_

_“S-Stay away!”_

_“THERE’S NO NEED FOR THAT, FRIEND!” Papyrus is a little sad to think about what will come of this human, but he puts that aside. Once upon a time he might have given this human a ‘freebee’. He might have led them through one of his puzzles._

_Those days have passed. He has Verdana and Sans to think about._

_“G-God, please.” They’re crying, now. “Don’t do this to me! Please, please, don’t, I c-can’t, I can’t…”_

_“YOU SAID YOU WANTED A FAIR FIGHT, RIGHT?”_

_They nod through their snot and tears and sobs. It’s gross, but Papyrus endures._

_“COME WITH ME.”_

* * *

“SANS! SANS! SNAP OUT OF IT, BROTHER!”

Sans _s l o w l y_ comes out of the trance he’d been put into by the sight of a human ( _human, what human, where, f o o d )_ as Papyrus waves a hand in front of his skull. The tall skeleton is holding Verdana. At some point he must have taken the baby away from Sans.

The human is still standing behind him, but they’ve moved to the kitchen. _when did they move to the kitchen?_

They’re shifting from foot to foot. Their face is blotchy from tears.

“what… what’s goin’ on bro?”

“AS YOU CAN SEE!” Papyrus gestures grandly to the subdued human beside him. “I’VE ACQUIRED A HUMAN. I’M ESCORTING THEM TO UNDYNE!”

The human stays silent.

“and they’re just… goin’ along with it?” He asks before he can process what words he’s saying. There’s no way anybody, not even Papyrus, could convince a human to let him march them to their death.

“I… I want a fair fight.” They speak up at last, still looking down at their feet. “He said Undyne will fight me?”

“CORRECT! AND IF YOU WIN, YOU GET TO LEAVE!”

_ah._

Sans laughs. “you shouldn’t tell lies bro.” It’s unlike Papyrus.

“WELL, IF THE HUMAN… _DOES_ MANAGE TO DEFEAT UNDYNE, THEY CAN LEAVE THROUGH THE BARRIER.”

Oh, _that’s_ funny. Sans can’t stop a few more chuckles from escaping his maw.

“Don’t laugh at me!” The human scoffs. “I can fight!”

Sans turns a sharp eye on them, all traces of humor gone. They flinch and look back down. “i’m comin’, too. been awhile since we last said thanks to good ol’ fish sticks, huh?”

Papyrus hums, looking down at Verdana. They’re life is riddled with danger. Every time they’ve been outside has been a risk - hell, when they were less than a week old they made a journey more dangerous than a tightrope walk across the Core. Transporting oranges is dangerous. There are monsters who would kill for oranges.

But a _human?_

Monsters don’t care about the barrier. They want _food_. Humans are a good meal down here. To try and transport a human with a baby as a handicap is a death sentence.

“WE’LL HAVE TO BE QUICK.”

“I can be quick!” The human blurts.

… 

“.... tomorrow.” San sighs. “gotta prepare.” It’s not ideal, he doesn’t want anyone to figure out their keeping a human alive in their house, but it’s necessary. They need a game plan. Maybe they should even try and dress the human up or hide their scent to keep monsters from coming after them on the trek.

Papyrus gasps, causing all eyes and eye lights to jump to him.

_*what’s wrong -_

“A SLEEPOVER! I HAVEN’T HAD ONE OF THOSE IN FOREVER!”

Sans could laugh. Or cry. It’s a toss up at this point.

The human looks severely confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter....! and a human! how exciting.
> 
> let's hope our boys & baby don't get too attached, we all know what happens to humans in horrortale. freedom is so close......
> 
> i'd also like to add without giving away too much that the 'minor character death' tag has been added. y'know. just so there's no surprises.
> 
> leave a comment if you'd like and stay safe!


	9. bleep bver, bart one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sleepovers are a bit different when you're tv doesn't work and there's no food in the kitchen, but papyrus is determined to make it work.
> 
> .... sans is resistant.

“OH, I KNOW JUST HOW TO MAKE THIS FUN!” Papyrus starts to ramble, filling in the awkward silence that had overcome the room at his earlier suggestion of a _sleepover._ “... I HAVE SOME OLD BOARD GAMES IN MY ROOM THAT ARE PERFECT FOR THREE PLAYERS! AND WE COULD MAKE A…. (GASP).... FORT! IN THE LIVING ROOM... “

Sans may be missing a good chunk of his skull and memories, but he’s fairly certain without having to check that a sleepover with a _human_ is the _last_ thing on his list of ‘fun’. His phalanges twitch and Sans suddenly longs for the smooth wooden handle of his axe. The comforting weight of his weapon in hand and of _m e a t_ in his stomach….

… But he can’t let those thoughts consume him again. Can’t. Because this is their last chance at getting out, no matter how much Sans wants to lop of the head of this human - who was stupid enough to wander into a cave of murders - as a big _fuck you_ to Undyne.

And just as swiftly as his thoughts turn, so does Sans’ longing. He wants to have Verdana in _his_ arms, safe and protected. A distraction from the _h u m a n_ in their house, a soft, warm weight to replace his axe.

“.... good idea, bro.” Sans tells Papyrus, intent on moving things along. “i can hold danni for ya…. while ya…. get supplies.”

Papyrus pauses mid-ramble to grin brightly at his brother. “OF COURSE! WAIT HERE…” He pauses and looks around, sockets narrowing as he says the next word, “... (human)! I HAVE A GREAT MANY NUMBER OF PUZZLES AND GAMES TO DELIGHT YOUR MEATY BRAIN!”

The tall skeleton eagerly hands off Verdana to Sans, who is quick to hold the baby tightly to his rib cage. Not a moment later, he’s skipping up the stairs.

The human stands perfectly still for all but their eyes, which follow Papyrus’ movement. When he’s out of sight, presumably to rummage through his room for ‘supplies’, the human turns their dull eyes on Sans.

“... Is that an insult? Should I be offended?”

Sans lets out a fake chuckle and tilts his head at the human to let them better see the hole in his head. Not like they weren’t looking before, anyway. “... dunno. kinda like the sound of it. meat-brain, brain-meat... don’t some of you humans eat cow brains….?” Sans shuts his sockets and lets out a soft sigh, “ _food for thought,_ huh?”

“Okayyyy… Non-sequiturs aside, this Undyne… she’s real, right?” The human replies cautiously. The sound of the soles of their worn boots against the linoleum kitchen floors is harsh and scratchy. “Not just a… another trap?”

Sans’ sockets snap open, posture tensing.

His grin strains. The human’s only taken a single step, but it’s enough to have him on guard. There’s something… important… he’s forgetting. Something that happened right here in this kitchen, likely with a human that had a knife…

While Sans’ mind can’t remember, his body knows to be on guard. “why?” He can't stop the way his voice comes out as a bark more than anything. He tries to save it with another joke, but short term memory is slipping from him as his uneasiness takes over… “d-do ya think papyrus would lie...? or is it her name that you find… _fishy?_ ”

The human’s face scrunches. “Are you just crazy? Is that it? Nothing you say makes sense… and… and…”

They stop when Sans gives them a mean glare. “ **i’m. not. crazy.** ” He grunts out seriously. “call me... what you want, cruel, skeleton… murderer…. but i’m not crazy.”

The human is pale as they nod. “G-Got it. Not crazy, sure, yup.”

“... I’VE ACQUIRED THE ACTIVITIES AND BLANKETS!” Papyrus saves the moment as he trots down the stairs, none the wiser of the interaction that had just taken place. Cradled in one arm is a few cardboard boxes sporting varying levels of water damage. In the other are two blankets neatly folded.

Sensing that with Papyrus came safety, the human edges over to the taller skeleton discreetly.

Sans is glad. His temper is a minefield riddled with unknown triggers, even to himself. He doesn’t want to ruin Papyrus’ moment. Doesn’t want to kill the human only to have a quick meal and then starve for another year.

But having Danni helps. Holding them keeps Sans from trying to grab the human by the neck and - 

“SANS! PAY ATTENTION!” Papyrus’ calling does its job of getting his older brother’s attention.

He gives a lazy, fake-relaxed grin to his brother. The tall skeleton can tell that it’s disingenuous, but he doesn’t comment. Only points to the couch, where the little nest of towels they usually construct for Verdana to nap on is all rumpled. “... YOU SETTLE DANNI DOWN SO WE CAN FIX UP THE LIVING ROOM!”

Sans feels his arms involuntarily tighten around ~~his~~ the baby at the suggestion. For the first time, the human seems to take an actual look at the baby. Their curiosity is palpable, at least to Sans. Creeping paranoia tightens his magic around his bones and heightens his aggression.

The shorter skeleton wants to hide Verdana from their view. A quick and low growl is enough to have them quickly avert their eyes on their own, though.

“... SANS?”

It seems that Verdana is somehow able to sense Sans’ discomfort, because the ever increasing amount of tremors that go through his bones cause them to make a sad noise. It’s in between a whine and a small sob.

The fact that Verdana is usually quiet makes this enough to warrant worry. Sans breathes out a sigh of relief as he bounces them in his arms. “sorry, bro.” He tells Papyrus, “seems like they wanna _stick_ with me.”

Papyrus drops the items in his arms on the floor, just so he can pinch his nasal ridge. “I SINCERELY HOPE YOU HAVEN’T BEEN MAKING… PUNS… TO OUR GUEST, SANS. BESIDES, THAT ONE HARDLY MAKES ANY SENSE.”

_Sans had been waiting for Papyrus to say that…_

Since he hasn’t changed out of his sleep attire, all Sans needs to do is unzip his hoodie a little to reveal his topmost ribs. As if operating on instinct, Verdana reaches out, instantly settling themselves on Sans like a little monkey clinging to its mother. A grin spreads across his face.

“like velcro.” Sans snickers to himself.

“(human) CLOTHING ACCESSORIES ASIDE, I’VE GATHERED AN IMPRESSIVE ARRAY OF FAMILY FUN-TIME ACTIVITIES.” Papyrus leans down to gather the items he’s dropped. “INCLUDING…”

“Wait wait wait,” The human cuts in, “you think velcro is a human clothing accessory?”

Amusingly, Papyrus can only level the human with arched brow ridges and an expression of general confusion. “... OF COURSE??? METTATON DID A SPECIAL ON IT FOR GYFTMAS ONE YEAR.”

“it was a metta- _ton_ of fun.” Sans has no such recollection of such special, but even before his head injury he never paid much attention to the bot. But, well, any excuse to make a joke. There’s something _nice_ about this type of banter.

Sans hasn’t seen Papyrus act like this since… well. Since he can’t quite remember, but that’s on him. It’s nostalgic in a way that pulls a genuine grin at his teeth.

The addition of a little babybones clinging to his ribs is a bonus. Heh. _bone-_ us. For a little bit of extra security, Sans zips the hoodie back over Verdana, fairly confident that they can hang on by themself.

“Who’s Mettaton?”

_One question._

It’s enough to have a dismayed look fall over Papyrus’ face. “WHO’S… METTATON?? WHY,” Papyrus takes in a deep breath of air. “ONLY THE GREATEST STAR EVER DOCUMENTED IN THE UNDERGROUND! HE HAS IT ALL, FAME, BEAUTY, A LUSCIOUS RECTANGLE SHAPE! TALENT BEYOND BELIEF…!”

But his shoulders fall as he continues, “OR AT LEAST, HE USED TO HAVE IT ALL. AFTER THE ROYAL SCIENTIST… HE’S MISSING.”

“Oh.” The human says dumbly. “I’m… sorry?”

“... that’s a load of shit.” The words automatically come to Sans, a reaction that not even he knows the origins of. “it’s not… _your_ fault.”

The room is silent for a few moments before Papyrus claps his gloved hands together once. “... AHEM. WELL, IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT WE ARE IN DIRE NEED OF A ‘METTATON MARATHON’ TO RECTIFY THE UTTER LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF HIS RECTANGLE-NESS… IS WHAT I WOULD SAY IF OUR TV WORKED. NYEH, ONLY BOARD GAMES FOR NOW!”

“What’s wrong with the TV?”

_*damn_

It’s like this kid doesn’t have eyes, and Sans hasn’t even gotten the ice-cream scooper out yet. They really put the _questions later_ in ‘stab first, questions later’. But that’s most humans in general.

“take a look around, kid, you think tv is our priority?”

Sans has the ‘pleasure’ of watching as the human _really_ opens their eyes for the first time they’ve gotten here. At the worn carpet, at the bare kitchen that can be seen from here, to the two thread-thin blankets Papyrus has managed to scrounge up.

“I… I guess not.” They swallow, shoulders hunching. 

Seeing that the human’s sufficiently put down, Sans cuts himself a bit of slack and sits on the couch, rearranging the little nest just in case. Papyrus sits down on the ground in front of the couch, right next to the coffee table, and gestures for the human to do the same.

“WE CAN BEGIN WITH THE ONE-THOUSAND PIECE PUZZLE. OF COURSE, I COUNTED, AND WE’RE MISSING ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SIX PIECES EXACTLY, BUT I CONSIDER IT AN EXERCISE IN INGENUITY AND CREATIVITY.”

Sans almost wishes he could see the human’s face as Papyrus dumped the whole box onto the coffee table.

…

It had been mid-morning when Papyrus first brought the human to the house, but it’s nearing evening time when what’s left of the puzzle is complete. It’s riddled with more holes than Sans’ skull, but Papyrus looks proud anyway.

The human’s head droops every couple seconds, like they’re about to fall asleep. But each time, Papyrus asks them something loudly and they jolt awake. Sans is fairly certain it qualifies as some type of torture, but he’s not one to speak on treating humans ethically.

“WOW, GOOD JOB.” Papyrus praises when they run out of pieces. “TIME TO CLEAN UP!” He promptly swipes the entire puzzle off the table and back into the box.

Sans can almost hear the way the human’s jaw drops. He almost wants to tell them to close it or they’ll catch flies.

“... You can’t just - !” They exclaim, “We worked on that for _hours_ , why would you ruin it?!”

“AS THE (humans) SAY, _CHILLAX_. IT IS ONLY A PUZZLE, THE PICTURE IS ON THE BOX, SEE?” Papyrus holds up the cover of the box, where there is a complete albeit distorted image.

“That’s not the point, the point is that we just worked for… for hours! To put the puzzle together! Don’t you care about all the work we did at all?” The human sounds frustrated in a way that Sans hasn’t seen since the Underground started falling into despair. Back when people used to care.

“YOU GET USED TO IT. ANYWAY, NEXT ON THE AGENDA IS A GAME CALLED ‘SORRY’, WHICH FROM WHAT I HAVE GATHERED IS NOT AT ALL ABOUT APOLOGIES.”

“...” The human only gapes for a few more moments before Papyrus is setting up the board. 

“I HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO PLAY THIS GAME PROPERLY FOR AWHILE! SANS IS ALWAYS TOO TIRED OR SPACED OUT TO PLAY.”

“heh, _sorry_ , bro.”

“SHUSH, YOU. COME JOIN US, IT’LL BE A GOOD LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR VERDANA!”

“The baby?” The human blurts, turning to look at the little lump in Sans’ hoodie. He has to stifle another growl when they sit up slightly to take a closer look.

Papyrus’ skull pops up, “OH DEAR, I HAVEN’T INTRODUCED THE TWO OF YOU YET, HAVE I?”

_“bro._ ” Sans says firmly. He doesn’t want this human _knowing_ Verdana. Doesn’t want their human eyes on them, doesn’t want to make them vulnerable like that.

“ _SANS._ ” Papyrus replies in the same tone, “THIS IS THEIR FIRST (human)! A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME MILESTONE! IT WOULDN’T DO TO HAVE THEM MISTAKE A ROCK FOR A (human) LATER IN LIFE, ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT THE SLIPPERY SNAIL HAD BEEN HIDING _NEXT TO_ THE ROCK THE ENTIRE TIME!”

“... What?”  
  


“none of yer business.” Sans growls, “stay out of this, _human_.”

“AS VERDANA’S UNCLE, I SAY THAT WE INTRODUCE THEM TO THE (human)!” Papyrus says finally.

“and as their _dad_ … i’m saying we don’t let the human get their dirty… _mitts_ on my fucking baby!” Sans argues.

“Hey!”

“I CONCUR, THE (human) IS RATHER CLEAN FOR THEIR SPECIES.”

Sans gives his younger brother a disbelieving look, “... are ya serious? don’tcha remember what happened with the _l a s t h u m a n ? “_

_It’s one of the few things that Sans can’t forget. The sight of them,_ Frisk _, slicing through Papyrus’ cervical vertebrae, his skull falling into the snow as his body turns to dust, the expression of panic as he realizes that the human’s foot is only coming closer to finish the job._

“... OF COURSE!” Papyrus looks away, beads of sweat collecting at the top of his skull. “BUT IT WILL BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME.”

“no means no, paps.” 

“...” The taller skeleton sighs, “THAT IT DOES. I SHALL RESPECT YOUR WISHES. WILL YOU AT LEAST PLAY ‘SORRY’ WITH US?”

Sans huffs, “... sure... whatever... but danni stays with me.”

He may have lost the use of one of his sockets, but Sans isn’t blind to the way that the human grits their teeth and grips their knees tightly from their seat on the ground.

“... Is being human really that bad?” They whisper.

Sans doesn’t want to start another argument so soon after the last, so he pretends he never heard. Papyrus does a good job of pretending that he hadn’t heard anything, either. Instead, he begins another tirade of the rules of Sorry and assigns colors.

“RED FOR ME (OBVIOUSLY), BLUE FOR SANS AND…. YOU CAN HAVE YELLOW.” Papyrus plucks up the little pieces and hands them to each player. “WE WERE MISSING PIECES, SO I GENEROUSLY CREATED A FEW OF MY OWN AS REPLACEMENTS.”

… Sans quickly remembers why he doesn’t like ‘Sorry’. It’s a game completely based on luck, which he has a pretty shitty history with. It doesn’t help that he keeps forgetting rules and getting corrected by the surprisingly bossy human. Papyrus would have just let most of his mistakes slide, but not _this_ kid.

Interspaced between their words are yawns that give away how tired they still are.

At one point, Verdana starts to get fussy again underneath the hoodie, so Sans unzips it down to his xiphoid notch and lets them get a good look at what’s going on. Anytime he sees the human looking too much, he frowns and moves his piece out of turn, prompting another lecture.

Just watching doesn’t appear to be enough to be for ~~his~~ the little babybones, though so Sans transfers them to his lap and hands them a green playing piece, which they practice putting in their mouth like he had shown them to do with food earlier. He doesn’t mind Verdana doing so, their magic won’t absorb it since the piece isn’t edible and the kid doesn’t have a throat to choke.

When the game finally comes to an end, with Papyrus being the obvious victor, the human’s stomach gurgles. It gives Sans a pause, who isn’t quite as familiar with human’s bodily functions when they're _alive_ as he used to be.

“Oh. Sorry.” They say, somewhat shyly. “I’m just hungry is all.”

“... welcome to the club.” Sans tells them. Their proclamation is enough to remind him that he’s eaten less today than he has in awhile.

“QUITE. I HOPE YOU HAD SOMETHING GOOD BEFORE YOU GOT HERE, (human), BECAUSE WE HAVE NOTHING FOR YOUR QUITE-POSSIBLY LAST MEAL. SHAME. ANOTHER GAME?” Papyrus goes about cleaning up the game, grabbing the little green piece from Verdana and offering them a little scritch to the back of their neck in return.

Adorably, Verdana makes a tiny _purr_ at the affection, and Sans makes a note to make a note reminding him to exploit this further later. Maybe he should do that now, before he forgets…

“one sec, bro, gotta do somethin’” Sans picks Verdana up and goes up the stairs, feeling the human’s stare on his back.

By the time he’s finished with his little reminder, Papyrus has arranged the human on their couch, wrapped up in a blanket, while he looks into a strangely familiar book within the comfort of his own blanket… Fluffy Bunny.

Sans’ younger brother looks up happily when he sees that Sans has returned. “JUST IN TIME! I FIGURED IT WAS GETTING LATE, SO I SHOULD ATTEMPT TO SOOTH THE (human) BEFORE THEIR EPIC BATTLE WITH UNDYNE.”

Sans tries his best not to show that he’s put off by the idea of sleeping in the same house in which a _human_ is present.

_*easy_

_*just don’t fall asleep_

Yeah. It’s easier said than done, but Sans is a practiced insomniac.

Sans moves Verdana’s nest to his lap where he sits on the ground as far away from the human as is ‘politely’ possible, and settles back, ready for a night of standing guard.

Papyrus starts the story with vigour, but ends up passing out half way through, just as he’d always done when Sans read to him… heh. At least there’s a few good memories still up in his noggin.

The human is hardly any better, their eyes are drooping. After how tired they were after the puzzle and all the yawning they were doing during the game, it’s no surprise that they fall asleep not too long after. When he's sure that everyone's asleep, Sans uses the barest flicker of magic to drag Papyrus' blanket more snugly around his curled up figure.

Sans stays awake. He watches over his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phew, sorry for the break, guys!
> 
> long story short: life stuff is happening right now and i'm trying to write, but i'm still really busy. alsoooooooo i've been thinking...
> 
> there were two possible paths i had in mind for this fic when i first started writing it, but i ended up choosing one over the other because i couldn't figure out how to work the original one out. welllll....... i found a convenient enough way to shove it into the story, so after a certain important plot point, i think i'm going to try and write two paths: the one i decided for the fic (canon), and a spin-off sort of version which is also canon in another universe!
> 
> this fic's route will be called: No Contest
> 
> the other will be: Updog, Underdog
> 
> okay! that is all! stay safe and healthy!


	10. bleep bver, bart bwo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sans is determined to not like the human

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings for: sans being a real freakin' meanie

It must be close to morning whenever Verdana starts to stir. 

Sans would like to say that this isn’t a common occurrence, but he’s usually, _heh heh,_ dead to the world at this hour of the day. Night. Whatever time it is. 

It’s also true that Verdana is a quiet baby, so it wouldn’t surprise him if they woke up early in the morning just to quietly drift back off again snuggled up next to Sans. Maybe they’d look around with wide sockets at the darkened room and think about whatever it is babies think about. 

Food?

Yeah. Probably.

He thinks that Verdana might shuffle around for a bit and eventually fall back into a deep breathing pattern that means they’re sleeping once again, but that doesn’t happen. 

Instead, the shifting gets a little more purposeful, and Verdana’s little limbs start trying to poke out of the blanket Sans had wrapped them in. Disgruntled, he moves to tie the blanket tighter around them. It’s too cold at night for them.

But that only makes Verdana let out a long whine.

Sans stops at once, and listens as there’s another whine, then Verdana’s thrashing increases three fold. 

His hands hover above his lap, where he’d set up their little nest only hours ago. The whines are turning into short, sharp gasps. All at once, Verdana goes limp and starts to _wail._

Sans’ hands act before his conscious mind does, picking Verdana up under their ( _tiny, tiny_ ) arms and setting them on his big rib cage. But the crying doesn’t stop. It gets even louder, and he can feel Verdana’s little fists grabbing up the material of his shirt and clutching it tightly. Their little feet are kicking frantically, skull nuzzling desperately into his neck.

Their sobs are starting to sound more like little syllables, but nuzzled as they are, Sans can’t quite make it out.

He forgets that there are other people in the room - his brother and the human. He forgets right until he hears the sound of a groan and shuffling from the couch. Papyrus sleeps like a rock these days, so the human must have woken up due to Verdana’s fussing.

But Sans’ mind can’t register this.

The growl that emanates from where his throat would be is pure instinct. Sans’ eye light is fixed on the couch, on the human who’s just gone very, very still.

Verdana huffs against Sans’ chest and the wails break up into short hiccoughs. They’re not thrashing anymore, instead curling up against the vibrations Sans is giving off.

The hiccoughs don’t subside.

But there’s another set of heavy breathing in the room, courtesy of the human. Their eyes are fixed on Sans, just the same as his is on them. It’s a standoff, one that they know they won’t win.

The hiccoughs… kind of sound like Verdana is saying ‘dada’. Too bad most of Sans’ mental capacity is focused on the threat rather than them.

A tiny whimper leaves the human’s throat, and Sans’ subconscious tells him to _do it, kill them_. It’d be so easy. They’re a threat in every sense of the word. Papyrus is asleep, unable to defend himself. Verdana is so small in his arms, crying and vulnerable, and….. and Sans…

He’s so…

So…

Hungry…

_“_ **_h u m a n ._ ** _”_ Sans’ jaw falls open, ready. He can taste the bitter spittle accumulating in his mouth, acridic and black rather than the color of his magic. It’s been too long. 

There’s the scent of fresh salt, tears.

But then.

A sharp cry.

“Da _Da!”_

Sans blinks, and he’s back in his living room, with a babybones on his rib cage and a human on his couch. Papyrus is slumbering not a few feet away.

Verdana is upset by the lack of attention that they’re receiving, wiggling and trying to find the warmest spot they can settle into, crying out for Dada, for _Sans_. Sans tears his gaze away from the human, down to _his_ baby.

Their sockets aren’t even open. They’re screwed shut, tiny green tears accumulating at the edges. Sans takes a gentle phalanx and wipes away the tear, only to stick the finger in his mouth. 

No wasting magic.

It’ll go back to them, later. 

It goes on for a few more minutes, the crying. To the point where Sans stands himself up and bounces Verdana in his arms, trying to sooth whatever it is causing them such discomfort. He kisses their small forehead and calls them _‘baby’_ because that’s what they are. His baby.

In all of his focus, the human on his couch slips under his radar once again, even as they stare over at him and clutch their single, worn blanket close. 

His shuffling becomes more purposeful after a minute, heading towards the kitchen almost instinctively. They’re hungry. Must be. His baby is hungry...

But there’s no food in the kitchen…

So Sans shuffles around the kitchen some, letting the scraping sound of his worn slippers against the linoleum tile and the dim yet still too-bright lighting wash over him and lull him into an almost meditative state. 

Still, though.

Verdana. Doesn’t. Stop. Crying.

It’s driving him madder than he already is, how - 

_Why!_

Hearing them cry _hurts_ , more than the way the noise causes the hole in his head to ache. It hurts in his chest, where his SOUL lies. Hearing the broken sobs makes him feel _awful_ , he wants to fix whatever is hurting the baby, _his_ baby, but he doesn’t know what it is.

… Unfamiliar footsteps join his on the tile, and Sans can’t think.

He doesn’t have his axe, that reassuring weight and texture in his hands to huck at whatever threat is in _his house, his kitchen_ \- 

So his instincts jump right to what he subconsciously registers as the _next best thing_ , and suddenly Sans feels the shadowy weight of a blaster behind him. He turns swiftly to see that it’s the human. _Again_.

Haven’t they learned their lesson yet? It’s almost like they _want_ to die, and Sans is barely hanging onto his restraint as it is…

And yet it seems that this human still fears death. 

Tears are quick to come to their eyes as they stare down the giant skull Sans has summoned, their knees going a little weak as they slump against the kitchen wall across from Sans.

Their gaze darts between him and the skull, but Sans is… starting to feel woozy. The magical strain is too much.

He hears the sound of energy building in the jaws of the blaster as he sweats. His arms start to shake, almost as much as the human is and he’s just about wheezing for air. Verdana feels so heavy in his arms, so heavy he’s afraid he might drop them.

Slowly, slowly, the skull starts to dematerialize and Sans sinks down onto the ground, same as the human. His back finds the cabinets and he wheezes heavily. He doesn’t know how long it takes him to come to after that, it feels like a blank space where it’s only him in a void of black.

One second he’s there, the next he’s in the kitchen and Verdana is _still_ crying, still, how long has it been - ?

Their little hands are scraping his cheekbones, claws digging into his bone. They’re looking up at him with nearly empty sockets, crying more green tears and wiggling.

He can’t even move his arms, though. If Sans even tries, he’s more liable to drop Verdana onto the ground than comfort them. He’s _exhausted,_ and it’s terrifying.

He remembers something like this happening, once before. Well, maybe he doesn’t _remember_ , but the strange sense of foreboding deja vu crawling down his back can’t mean anything good.

Across the kitchen is the human, looking at him strangely while he struggles to keep his eye socket open.

There’s a phantom sensation of a burning pain across his torso, like a knife just cut its way through his bones. Impossible. He’d taken the knife from the human. They couldn’t do anything.

The human across the way is holding their hands to their face as they shake, pressed up on the other wall as small as they can get. Sans watches them warily.

But all they do is cry.

He can smell it, the salt of their tears, even stronger than before. Their body shudders with sobs, so alike and yet so different to the complaints of his baby.

_Stars._ His baby is still crying. He tilts his skull back until the sharp edges thunk against the wooden cabinet and it snerks with pain. He groans, low. It’s nothing like his growl, but the human’s gaze snaps up to look at him anyways.

Sans stares them down vehemently. Just because he’s near collapse doesn’t mean he won’t hesitate to exhaust the rest of the energy and magic in his body to protect his family. And surely, all it would take is a bite to rejuvenate that energy…

… Dammnit, he’s hungry. And the human smells like salt and animal musk and _meat_. Sans thunks his skull again to rid himself of the urge to crawl over and take a big bite. Then another thunk, just for funsies, because the wound is really starting to ache in the way that Sans kind of likes, duller than when he sticks his hands in his sockets.

His hunger fades to the back of his mind in light of the newer ache of his skull, which will definitely bruise later.

“... I…” The human rasps, still teary.

They still as soon as Sans’ eye light grows in his socket. He clicks his teeth once, hoping that it would get across the message. _He doesn’t want to talk._

As far as he’s concerned… they’re nothing more than cattle. It’s more than they deserve to be kept alive this long. It’s more than _Undyne_ deserves that Sans has kept them alive this long. 

The _empress_ doesn’t deserve freedom, but Verdana does. Papyrus does.

So Sans will set aside his grudge for this, then he’ll take his family away from every other monster there is and eat as much as he wants.

… Unfortunately, the human doesn't quite get the message, and so they interrupt Sans’ fantasies of pies and burgers.

“I just wanted to help.” The human’s voice is a whisper, rough from the snot dripping from their nose. 

The response comes to Sans’ mouth faster than his mind can register it, “then die.”

The sniveling doesn’t stop and neither does the crying. Sans whacks his skull on the wood behind him one more time for good measure. Stars know how Papyrus is still sleeping. Eventually not even _he_ can dissociate fast enough to rid himself of the sounds, so he tries to mitigate at least one of the problems. “...well?”

When it becomes clear to the human that Sans was, in fact, addressing _them_ , they look up.

“What?” 

Sans grinds his teeth together briefly, mentally bemoaning how dense humans are. “you said…. you could…. help.”

Finally, two of their brain cells must rub together or something because their eyes widen. “O-Oh! Yeah, um, you can just try to shush the baby.” The human wipes at their face a little, which really just smears the snot around.

If San still had his full sense of humor intact he might have laughed in the human’s face. As it is, he’s running on nothing more than fumes and the sound of his kid crying. “oh, _right_ …” He growls. “why didn’t i… think of _that?_ just... shush them.”

“Just… Just humor me.” The human replies nervously, “I helped with the kids in my family, so I know.”

Sans scowls at them for a bit before looking back down at Verdana. He pushes down his pride and gently starts to rock his baby. Reluctantly, he tucks his mouth against their skull and murmurs to them, “shhhh…. shhhh….”

After a minute or two, Verdana settles.

Sans is inclined to believe it was a variety of factors that contributed to this, but the human sure looks proud of themself.

“See?” They ask, a little breathy. “You have a good baby.”

“yeah, i know.” Sans pushes himself to his feet, leaving the human in their kitchen, alone. Not like there’s anything to steal anyway.

He sits back in his spot next to the couch and pretends he doesn’t hear the continuation of human-sounding sniffles.

Gross.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> turns out i basically had a whole chapter sitting there for like..... 3 months??? who am i.
> 
> anyways,,,,, i bring this chapter to you after a long break,,,,,,,,, please enjoy daddy sans,,,,,,,

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! it really means a lot to me!!
> 
> here's my [tumblr](https://beanniebenn.com/) if you haven't seen it already!
> 
> all my love during these trying times ;)


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